Secret Defenders: AKA Beyonce
by Kazakh Doom
Summary: A handsome librarian hires Jessica Jones to help him find a book thief who goes by the alias "Beyonce." Jones finds the thief, and is soon roped into the responsibility of defending the multiverse's sorcerers from Karl Mordo's Illuminati.
1. Chapter 1

This is K'un-Lun. Or rather, it's the ruins of the same. Long after the lost battle, corpses are still strewn everywhere. Some belong to natives. Others belong to Hand ninjas. The ninjas' black and red robes blow like flags, from their corpses, whenever there's a wind.

Around, the Himalayas surround the fallen city for clicks. It can be hard for outsiders to adjust to the air pressure up here.

On an old path, a portal mystically opens. Two men step through. Surprisingly, neither man heaves from the air pressure. One's been here before, and the other learned magic somewhere close by.

The man who opened the portal, a black sorcerer, closes the portal. The other, a seasoned Japanese ninja, leads the sorcerer down a mountain path.

The path takes them down and around. On either side, the walls get higher. Below, caves open. The shogun, whose name is Murakami, leads the sorcerer into the biggest one they find.

Inside, there are bones. Some are human. Some are yak. Some are pheasant. The floor is covered in black ash. The cave walls have runes burned on them.

A great dragon once lived here. He was the last of his kind...before a great human, named Danny Rand, killed him and became the Immortal Iron Fist.

The sorcerer, whose name is Karl Mordo, opens his hand, and a book appears. He smiles, and flips through the book's many pages.

Near him, Murakami looks around, in awe. He still remembers when he and his fellow Hand leaders tried to kill the Rand and his team under Midland Circle, a very tall building in New York. Shou-Lao was slain, alright...but if only Rand could've done the Hand the courtesy of leaving the bones in here. But of course, he and the K'un-Lunians probably suspected this, and the rest is history.

The Hand MUST be resurrected. The skeleton of Shou-Lao, or of any fallen member of his species, is the only thing that can re-empower the Hand. The Hand's lost three of its fingers. And Murakami is one of only two who survive.

Mordo smiles, when he's sure that he's found what he needs. He makes the book disappear, and opens another portal.

Inside, a dragon slumbers. He looks like Shou-Lao.

Murakami gapes. Mordo just smiles. That poor dragon's got NO idea what's coming. And neither do many sorcerers on Earth-199999, who Mordo has sworn to eradicate, until only he himself remains.


	2. Chapter 2

This is the Trudy Monk Memorial Library. Its construction was generously financed. It's in Hell's Kitchen. And with luck, someone here might have a job for a certain private investigator.

In a small room, he interviews an employment candidate. His name is Lee Owlsley. He obtains books for this library. And he seems to have a bit of a wingsuit obsession.

This is who he's interviewing. His name is David Lieberman. Once, he was a great NSA hacker. And then he was dead. And now he's alive again. And he needs a job.

Owlsley reviews his resume...but isn't sure. That really big gap on Lieberman's resume sure doesn't make him look good...

A fist pounds on the door. Owlsley yells, and tells them to wait. He shakes Lieberman's hand, and dismisses him. Neither man seems too confident.

With Lieberman gone, Owlsley accommodates for his next appointment. She's a PI with superstrength and gliding powers-and for that, Owlsley is somewhat obsessed with her.

As they barely begin the job interview, Jessica Jones notices minor details about the way Owlsley keeps himself and his space. She's already noticed his wingsuit obsession, of course. She's also noticed an owl-shaped pin on his sports coat. But of course, his name is Owlsley; so she naturally dismisses this as a really pathetic attempt at self-insulting.

He tries to offer her a chair. She beats him to it. She puts her legs on the table, and rests. She rushes things along, and insists that he get straight to it.

Owlsley can barely pretend to not feel insulted. Nonetheless, he maintains his professionalism-as his late father always did before him-and presents his proposal.

His library's been losing books. At first he suspected his employees, but when the police came, they reported no signs of a break-in.

As the meeting continues, Jones asks her usual questions. According to Owlsley, the missing books may have something in common, but he isn't sure. But one thing he does know is that the thief always leaves his calling card. With that, he slides a photo across the table, towards Jones.

It's a photo of Beyonce, the singer. It's hand-autographed...by her.

Jones smiles, and presumes the real one has an alibi. Owlsley admits that he hasn't been able to get a hold of her, as haven't the police. They've already checked all the photos for prints, but no one's sure of anything. The only prints that have been identified are either of previous owners or of unknown ones.

But based on what limited Owlsley knows of Beyonce (he's probably lying; Jones is pretty sure of it), it doesn't seem she'd have much use for the stolen books. "Beyonce" is clearly an alias; and hence, a likely job for Alias Investigations to crack.

This isn't the most flexible moment of Jones's career. Matt Murdock's sick in her apartment, and her former assistant Malcolm isn't talking to her, and she isn't talking to Trish, her lifelong BFF and surrogate sister. What's more, she's already working on a case that she finds MUCH more interesting, which has to do with Killgrave-a purple-wearing freak with mind-controlling powers who she killed on a wharf, in front of many helpless mind-controlled witnesses, including Trish, a few years back... Nonetheless, this AKA Beyonce case seems amusing, and as a PI, she must always push to prove to the public that no matter how tough times get, she can still pull more than her own weight.

She must, of course. She didn't, after all, kill Kilgrave, subdue Black Sky, or destroy IGH by being weak or flightless...

They shake hands. Owlsley seems intimidated by how hard she squeezes his hand.

With that, Jones returns to sleuthing, and taking care of Matt whenever Sister Maggie nor Tilda can. And Owlsley returns to his ever-watchful and ever-wise bookkeeping, as it seems to an outsider...


	3. Chapter 3

It's late in the day. It's time for Jessica Jones to close Alias Investigations for the night.

Much paperwork clutters her desk. She's been making phone calls and sending emails to some contacts of hers who think they know of someone who's related to Kilgrave. Jones has been searching relentlessly for that person since hearing that Kilgrave didn't die childless. She might not be as bad as Kilgrave...then again, Jones doesn't think so...

Whoever this person is, she probably wants revenge for her father. And naturally, a lot of people saw Jones kill Kilgrave on the wharf that night...

Tonight, Jones visits a pub. Johnson's watching Matt at her apartment. She's sure there a lot. Sister Maggie seems to have way too many qualms about leaving the church, especially after Bullseye killed Father Lantom.

At the pub, there's a man sitting at a table near the back room. He's surfing on a laptop. He's that same man who was seeing Owlsley that day Jones went to see him. And from Jones's perspective, he's starting to get annoying.

The barkeep brings Jones a White Russian. Jones has no memory of ordering it. She says so, of course. The barkeep acknowledges this, and tells her that Lieberman ordered it for her.

Her gaze meets Lieberman's of course. Lieberman only grins, winks, and returns to his computer.

Jones lets it slide. Some men give up, after all, after she doesn't reciprocate their efforts after a while. Besides, Jones is happily committed to a great Latino landlord named Oscar Arocho. Alas, it seems that ever since Jones burned the bridge with Walker, and got another bridge burned by Ducasse, Arocho and his son have been around less often...

Thank Jim Beam for Murdock's problem, though. If not for that, Jones would be unraveling these days.

Jones sorts through the many Beyonce photos, who Owlsley's burglar keeps leaving. Their history is just as much a mystery as the prints on them. Anyone could've left these. They could've been bought anywhere...or printed on any printer...

She visits all the paper depots, of course. It seems, to their cashiers, that all the people who go into them are just as weird and indistinguishable as the others. And if the Beyonce were in New York, Jones is pretty sure she'd know about it. It's not that Jones likes R&B, or even Beyonce, it's more like... How about Jim Beam? Does anyone know what ever happened to Mila Kunis?

Jones's apartment has maintenance issues. In an average night, she's lucky to get any sleep without having it crashed by another leak coming undone in the ceiling. So, this has become a pre-bedtime ritual for her. And she must go to bed at some time at nights; she has a steady job, in her apartment, that she needs to be awake to do.

In her bed, Murdock flinches every time her work gets rough. A blind man, his hearing and smell are supernatural. And when ceiling falls, he reacts as if there's an earthquake. Jones has NO idea how he lives like he does...and hope she never finds out.

In the kitchen, Johnson mixes her herbs. If she still feels guilty about her matricidal act against the infamous Black Mariah, she's not showing it. But no one ever knew Black Mariah like she did...not even Cage. And ESPECIALLY not Shades Alvarez, her white cougar bait with the sunglasses. May he rot in peace. He may not know it, but Johnson's the reason why he's in jail.

With her nightshade herbs, Johnson treats Murdock's injuries. Murdock usually heals faster than this. What's more, Johnson's herbs usually work better than this. They sure turned John McIver into a Jamaican juggernaut...

Ordinarily, of course, Karen Page would attend to Murdock more often than Sister Maggie or Johnson. Alas, she's in Amsterdam with a man named Frank Castle. It seems that Castle's been unexpectedly attacked by a racist man named John Pilgrim, who called himself the Mennonite. And therefore, Castle MUST scour Amsterdam, the heart of the Mennonite homeland, and become absoultely certain there are no more weapon-toting white supremacists pretending to be Mennonites in Amsterdam, in New York, or anywhere where he can't afford to get in any more trouble than he's already been...

Don't get him started on that, by the way. And ESPECIALLY don't get DHS agent Dinah Madani started on it, either...

Outside, she sees a man jogging on the sidewalk. He passes her apartment building several times. She notices. There's something familiar about the shape of that jogger...

She creeps to the window, and takes a closer look-but tries to stay out of sight. He passes again. This time, she's pretty sure the jogger is who she thinks. It's Lieberman...from the pub...and the library. He's stalking her. Either that, or he's trying to contact her and doesn't know how...

The sun rises. Jones sleeps on the floor.

Someone pounds on the door. Jones grumbles, rolls over, and nods back off.

Johnson sneaks in, and leaves her a parcel. Jones hears...but doesn't dare react. She appreciates Johnson for not being half as noisy as Walker would if she were still welcome around here. Johnson sure is polite, for a matricidal nightshade-mixing bitch.

At last, Jones rises. She opens the parcel.

It's a mug. It looks like a wild turkey. Its eyes look weird. The turkey's shape reminds Jones strangely of the Wild Turkey wild turkey. She smiles. Someone out there knows what she like...

Jones holds that thought. All at once, exploiting this mug feels too good to do right away...

Be that as it may, it's a nice mug. Jones puts it on display just above the rest of her booze. She's very sure she'll use it soon. Secretly, she would admit that she can't wait to have her first drink from it.

There are a pair of nano-cams in the mug's "eyes." They turn around in the sockets freely, like chameleon's eyes, and monitor activity in Jones's apartment...

The day continues. At work, Jones gets a message saying that Kilgrave's illegitimate daughter is crossing the border in Buffalo. She smiles. As much as she hates to leave Johnson and Murdock alone-or Lieberman, if he's still here-she can't afford to let Kilgrave Jr pass from her knowledge.

It's a long drive to Buffalo. But with luck, it'll be worth it.

En route, Jones looks in her rearview mirror. She's being followed. He's on a motorcycle. She can't tell, because he's in a helmet and visor...but the rider seems to have Lieberman's body type.

There's something about that visor... There's something about that motorcycle...

Ah, the Niagara River. Jones has heard of a lot of people who'd love to be able to swim across it without getting caught. Alas, these are two different countries. And they both hate unregistered visitors.

Jones waits behind a pillar, and watches. Her eagle has landed. And yes, she is VERY over the Canadian border. She's at a ticket window.

Inside the window, Jones watches as the cashier stands, flips, and does tricks inside the booth. Jones frowns, and nods. This is Kilgrave's spawn, alright. Question is, what is she doing in the United States, and how soon can she go back to Canada-assuming, that is, she doesn't hijack the Mounties and declare war on the United States.

She's approached...by a man. He's dressed strangely. He's black, and seems cordial. He kisses Kilgrave Jr's hand when they meet.

The man wears a strange pair of boots. They sure aren't spring-loaded-but they sure look like they ought to be...

Jones narrows her eyes more. If only she had an ID on that man...

Alas, he leads her away. They go into a bookstore, and vanish.

Jones feels alone, and looks around. There's an Internet cafe nearby. She grins. She gets an idea...

Inside the cafe, Lieberman surfs the Internet. Alas, there's a power outage, and the cafe's clientele buzz. And, of course, Lieberman is knocked offline. He grunts, and packs his computer.

As a hacker, he offers the owner his skills. The owner accepts, and Lieberman goes out back to find the source of the outage.

In the alley, Jones intercepts him. She pins him against a brick wall, and demands what matter has been so crucial all this time that he'd stalk her all the way across New York state.

Lieberman reminds her that she's looking for a book thief who goes by Beyonce. He knows some things that might make her search easier-and not to mention more possible.

Jones eases up on him, and asks him to elaborate. Lieberman fixes the Internet, and takes her back inside.

Lieberman shows her some videos that he's recorded. They're in Owlsley's library. It's at night. Jones can see all the bookshelves lined up here and there.

Clear spots appear on the screen, and expand. At first Jones thinks it's the film. But then she sees something. A pair of arms slides through them, grabs a book from one of the shelves, and vanishes. Behind them, the spot vanishes too. In other places throughout the library, as Lieberman's edited videos surf them, the same arms do the same thing to different books. The spots-which are apparently portals-vanish as soon as the books are stolen. It seems Beyonce is more than just a book thief; he's a sorcerer.

Lieberman explains that while he did want Owlsley to give him a job, that's not why he was there that day. He's been spying on Owlsley.

Jones asks him why. Lieberman smiles sadly, and reminds her that's not part of why he's been following her. He's here to help her, and whatever illegal activities Owlsley might be involved in-and he does NOT mean to confirm that he is-are strictly between him and another party. As of now, he doesn't have enough data to yet tell Jones whether or not Owlsley is a threat to her.

Jones remembers that Murdock once expressed concern when she told him her most recent client's name was Owlsley, and that Wilson Fisk once had an accountant by the same name. Lieberman's recent hints make her wonder...

Lieberman's put tracers on some of the books. Two have been stolen-and he's got video footage to prove it. The tracers were somewhat strained by the extremely sudden relocation of their teleportation, but they soon started working again. And now he's pretty sure where the stolen books are being taken to...although the place seems implausible.

Lieberman writes down the address, and slips it to Jones. It's a warehouse at the Newark docks.

Lieberman and Jones thank each other, and part ways. He says something about having to get back to his family, who're still adjusting to the reality that he's not really dead. He's also concerned that his lovely wife is still in love with a man named Frank Castle. They sure got friendly while he was "dead," and he's kept some video footage to prove it...that he still has trouble re-watching...

He and Jones part ways. Jones returns to the hunt for Kilgrave Jr...

Ah, she's probably gotten away by now. What's more, she's finally got another lead on the Owlsley case. And she's much rather begin the commute back to New York ASAP, rather than pay for a hotel room. So, with the Lieberman matter finally behind her, and with the eye-scorching sunset in her rearview mirror, she begins the long drive back to the Big Apple.

It's about time, after all, that someone relieved Johnson of having to care for Murdock. Not that she needs it; she's one of the least-active women Jones has ever met. And that disgusts Jones...somewhat. Jones STILL isn't sure about a woman-or a person in general-who's happily committed matricide...


	4. Chapter 4

This is in 1997.

This is Augsburg, Germany. It's one of the oldest cities in Germany. A great man once lived here. He invented part of a supersoldier serum here...and then a whole one in the United States some time later.

Subtly down the back roads, a prison convoy rolls. They're SHIELD agents. They've made the biggest bust of their existence yet. And by the will of the Howling Commandos, they will NOT screw this up...

Their inmate of honor is Wolfgang von Strucker, an officer of Hydra. He's in chains, and surrounded by guards. It's hard for him to feign despair, when he knows that some of his loyal coworkers are in the guards' ranks. But feign he must, until the right time...

Onward, the convoy continues. They've all got a long way to go before they can rest.

Somewhere else in Augsburg, Mitch Carson, a seasoned assassin of public officials, is on the prowl. He's a very loyal Hydra agent, who was once SHIELD's head of defense...back when Howard Stark was still alive and Peggy Carter could still work. He's here for the biggest job of his career. He's here to spring Hydra's head.

Not that it would matter if Strucker died, of course. "Cut off one head, two more shall take its place," and all that. Nothing's going to stop Strucker today. He'll get this promotion...if he has to raze Dr. Erskine's precious hometown to the ground to do so...

He's always envied Hank Pym-even though his face still hurts from where he slugged him right before he retired from SHIELD. If only Hydra had been able to fully duplicate the Ant-Man suit before Pym caught them, thinking that he'd caught SHIELD doing it instead...

One of the SHIELD agents guarding Strucker is a cyborg. His name is Jon Garrett-or Deathlok, as he calls himself. His belly is literally made of metal. He and many of the other guards are poised for action...and they'll get it soon.

From a cybernetic in his ear, Garrett gets an order straight from Alexander Pierce, at the Triskelion. He smiles, and gives his comrades a look. The few others who only work for SHIELD-the weaker ones-look on in vain. The poor souls have no idea what to expect...

Garrett and the other Hydra moles stun the weaker SHIELD agents, and kill them. They pull Strucker from the prison transport. Garrett leaves a few grenades in the transport. They improvise, and made it look like Strucker escaped on his own.

At last, and too late, Carson arrives. The fun's already happened. The prison convoy's gone up in flames-as has SHIELD's victory. Carson didn't get there in time to save Strucker-even if he did get there in time to have that pinned on him by SHIELD...if SHIELD's yet gotten the memo that their precious former head of defense has gone bad.

Carson is outraged. He really wanted to get the credit for saving Strucker.

Garrett only smiles sadly, and pats Carson on the shoulder. He reminds him that the world will know about Carson's little victory over SHIELD. And for that reason, Carson still has his job. But until then, Strucker needs someone to take him back to Hydra headquarters in Sokovia, and SHIELD's expecting Garrett and his surviving coworkers to report back.

With that, Garrett and his team extract. Carson gets to go to Sokovia with Strucker...albeit in weaker spirits than he'd imagined.


	5. Chapter 5

This is the present day.

This is the Monk Library. Once again, it's getting late in Hell's Kitchen.

Inside, Lee prepares to close. The last of the customers have left...thankfully. Lee's got something he wants to do later tonight. His mind is about to do a MAJOR 180 on him.

He hears the bell at the front door. He shouts at who made it ring, reminding them that the library's closed.

It's Jessica. It seems that her meeting with Lieberman has made Lee more desirable...in her mind. Ordinarily, of course, she's deeply committed to Oscar. But he hasn't been too emotionally available-or practically, even-and meanwhile, Lee's a client. Ordinarily, Jessica doesn't have sex with clients. But then again, ordinarily, her clients usually don't look like Lee.

They usually look like Robert Coleman... But this is no time to dwell on the past; Jessica and Lee have both got some SERIOUS courting to do.

It all begins in a cheap hotel. Jessica fucks him. O, the ecstasy! Unclear as to which whore Leland had to fuck to create this wonderful being...but then again, Leland just might've known what he was doing after all...

They don't talk much about Leland. At least not at first...

It continues at a bar-the same one where Lieberman bought her the White Russian. (Or is it the Belarusian? Or the tsarist? The times get so confusing...)

They have a drinking game. (Jessica wins.) Lee barely has one shot. Goddamn, Jessica reveres his tolerance of booze...

They play pool. (Lee wins.) It all ends, alas, when Jessica breaks a pool stick, shortly before breaking the nose of a guy who tries to grab her ass. Lee offers to deter him...until he's humiliated by how overwhelmingly capable Jessica is of defending herself.

They sit on the roof of a building, and watch a movie as it's projected on the back of a billboard. The guy up in that window still plays one every Friday. Seriously, it's as if the local cops have nothing better to do. Or then again, it's just as likely they've got TOO much to do...

They order a pizza, and have it. To her, this brings back memories of Trish, and when she still didn't hate her for killing her mother... But again, none of that. She's with a man, and she might as well enjoy it.

Lee confesses that he loves rooftops. Some have even dared accused him of having an obsession with them...

Up here, in an intimate spot, he tells Jessica about his father. He barely knew him. He felt bad when he found out he'd been killed. But he intends to repay his father...by avenging him.

Jessica asks how his father died. Lee sighs, and says he was killed by a vigilante. From what he's heard, that's a very common thing where his father comes from. If not for his father, he wouldn't miss the days when Hell's Kitchen's biggest fears were poverty and the Yakuza.

They're down to the last slice. For once in her life, Jessica lets him have it. She envies it as he eats it slowly. She's tempted to just rip it out of his mouth and take it for herself...

He grasps her hand. The movie shows a romantic scene. Lee pulls the pizza from his mouth, and looks Jessica in the eyes. He tells her he's glad he went out with her tonight.

All at once, Jessica's appetite for more pizza is sated. They kiss.

Would've been great if they could've blocked the projector beam...except the beam is too far up, and there's no one up here to be inconvenienced by it.

Jessica just doesn't get why Murdock and Lieberman hate the Owlsley family so much. Lee is a perfectly decent man with one of the most interesting problems she's seen in all of her career as a PI...


	6. Chapter 6

These are the Newark docks. Many containers are kept here overnight. And there are warehouses. And it's always a great night for burglaries.

Tonight, the Daughters of the Dragon are on patrol. Colleen Wing has received a tip-off that Murakami survived the collapse, and is still at-large. Wing can't imagine that Murakami can do half as much damage if Bakuto, Sowande, and Alexandra are all dead. But there again, she once thought that Bakuto was dead, and found out she was wrong a little too much later...

Misty Knight is adapting well to life as a cyborg. Her arm has gotten many upgrades. If not for her gender, she'd be sure she could take on Deathlok in a fair fight. Oh well; she'll just have to wait and meet Nebula...if the Guardians' of the Galaxy travels ever take them to the Big Apple...

(Nova-forbid if it ever does...)

There are new sensors in Knight's arm. And that's not the only place she and Rand Enterprises have appended them...

A sensor of hers detects a visitor at the back gate. She alerts Wing, and they both rush to the back gate to greet this mysterious intruder...

At the back gate, Jones rips off the padlock with her bare hands, and tears the gate open. She marches through.

She meets the Daughters of the Dragon, standing in a rank before her. Wing's fist is glowing white. It stops glowing when Colleen recognizes Jones as an ally. Knight disarms her arm in disappointment.

Knight reminds Jones she needs to replace that lock. Jones sighs, and says she'll add it to her to-do list.

They ask her why she's here, of course. So, Jones tells them: she's helping a client, and there's some loot being held in a warehouse here he needs back. So naturally, the Daughters of the Dragon allow it. But they warn her that if she causes more damage than she's worth, they're chucking her right back out that gate.

Jones agrees, and proceeds. Wing follows her from a distance.

Jones follows the directions to the warehouse Lieberman told her about. It's a long way around. She circles it, looking for a way in. Certain Jones has found what she's looking for, Wing returns to her duties.

Something appears to stalk Jones, from the rooftops and the tops of the containers. It looks like...Ant-Man in a black suit. He leaps from top to top, apparently stocking Jones. Perhaps, he...plans to go rappelling down the Power Woman's low-cut?

Jones finds a way in, at long last. Black Ant perches, and waits...

Once in, Jones pushes a lever nearby, and turns on the lights. She doesn't believe what she sees. Alas, some of it is expected, considering what she's looking for. She just...didn't expect to find out the possibility that...Lee isn't the only librarian Beyonce's robbed...

The shelves are tall, and numerous. They're arranged far and wide. And the warehouse, for some reason, feels...much bigger on the inside...than it looks from the outside...

Jones feels sleepy, all of a sudden. She snaps out of it. She stalks the bookshelves, looking around. She reaches for the recently-updated list of books Lee's lost. If only there weren't so many others from so many other libraries...

Most of these aren't even in English. In fact, many are printed in languages Jones wouldn't have known existed until now...

She doesn't have to look for very long, strangely, before finding the first. She takes it off the shelf and inspects it. It's the same book, alright. She sighs, puts it back, and looks for the other books.

She finds them all adjacent to each other. Strange... She goes back, one more time, to account for all the books of Lee's she's found. It suddenly occurs to her they don't all occur in the same place each time she looks...

What is this? Who stacks these, anyway?

Jones feels she's being watched. She turns slowly. There's someone. They're standing at the far end of the rows of shelves she's between. They wear a black robe. And they DEFINITELY do not have Beyonce's figure underneath...unless they're wearing more beneath that robe...

So much for meeting a trio of women who would've burst out into "Single Ladies" when Jones first met them. Crap; Jones was subtly anticipating that...

But not too much, of course. She'd beat to death anyone who found out she secretly adores Beyonce's music...

Jones flexes her bare arms, and tries to fly over to the person. Surprisingly, she does it perfectly. This scares and amazes her; up until now, she could never get her flight down right-or UP, rather... She lands perfectly, within five paces of the robed person.

He doesn't react. He just stands there.

Jones asks if he's Beyonce. He moves, and takes off his hood...

He's a bald Asian, with a mustache. He identifies himself as Wong.

"What," Jones asks, "just Wong? Like Adele? Or Drake? Eminem...?"

Wong gives her a cold look.

Jones smiles, and rolls her eyes. "Something tells me you've heard that bit before...Mr. Wong."

He's MASTER Wong, actually...of the Mystic Arts. He is a librarian...although he's taken a lot of time off his job recently.

Jones asks him what his job is. And she asks him why he's taking time off.

There's a black ant on Wong's shoulder. Jones tells him to be still, and raises her hand to squash it...


	7. Chapter 7

Something stirs in the shadows. It's huge. And it smells like fire. Jones stays her hand over the mysterious black ant, and listens.

A glowing pair of eyes appear in the dark. And soon, their owner. Jones sees it, but she doesn't believe it. Wong doesn't dare move.

"Mr," Jones corrects herself, "MASTER Wong, you won't believe this, but there's a huge scary dragon standing behind you."

"Mrs. Jones," Wong says, "you won't believe this, but I do believe you."

Behind Wong, the dragon inhales. Something in his mouth glows...

Wong spins, and does an about-face. He opens a portal. The dragon breathes fire. The dragon naively blows the fire into the Dark Dimension, where Wong sends it.

The dragon keeps breathing. Jones would help...except she still can't believe what she's seeing.

Wong flinches. The Black Ant has bitten his neck. Good thing it's not a vampire. Alas, this is about to get worse.

Again, Jones reaches to swat the ant. But all around, others rain down on him. They surround him. They bite him. Wong can't bear it. He cries out, and shouts for relief.

Jones blinks, and realizes that that first ant wasn't an ant at all. It was bipedal; every ant she's seen has six legs...

Jones peers around. The dragon has a rider. She wears a purple robe. She glares back at her, with glowing purple eyes. She can't see her face, of course. But there's something about that shade of purple...

Wong can't fight. Jones hurls him out of the way, and faces the dragon. The dragon narrows its eyes. So does its rider.

"Say hello," the rider whispers creepily, "to the Wizardkiller!"

"Hello to the Wizardki-" Jones covers her mouth. She doesn't know why she said that. But then, she looks the rider in the glowing purple eyes...and knows.

The eyes glare back. Indeed, the ghost of Kilgrave has come back to haunt Jones.

"The Wizard," she hisses. "Stand away from him, bitch!"

Jones is tempted to...but doesn't. Too bad daddy couldn't've lived long enough to warn his bastardess about the sex slave he once had who escaped and became a superheroine.

Kilgrave Jr sighs, and pats the dragon on the neck. "Wizardkiller," she whispers, "roast them both!"

The dragon inhales. Jones charges him, and punches him in the nose.

The dragon stops, and inhales in shock-freezing his own insides. He stumbles around the warehouse, dazed. Kilgrave Jr struggles to stay saddled. All around, the dragon knocks over bookshelves with the spasms in his coils.

"Snap out of it," Kilgrave Jr hisses.

The dragon staggers more slowly. It regains its balance, and straightens himself out.

Behind Jones, the warehouse doors fly away. Wing and Knight storm in. Jones points at Wong. Knight grabs him, and drags him away.

Wizardkiller blinks. He's back. He turns and faces his attackers. The rider's hood is still low over her head-but her gaze blazes just as purple.

They both look around, as if they'd lost something. BOTH their eyes light up...

Colleen assumes a fighting stance. Her fists glow white. Jones flexes her muscles, and takes her stance. No one's going home early tonight.

Knight drags Wong away. The ants try to climb her prosthetic arm. The arm defends itself, and electrically shocks the ants. Wong moans. He's been hurt pretty bad. Jones's hospital ward is about to get bigger...

The Black Ant realizes what's going on when he senses the defeat of some of his ant-warriors. With that, he leaps off Wong, and re-sizes himself to normal. He gets up, and stands before Knight. She hesitates.

He looks scary in his Black Ant suit. Knight doesn't know what to do; she can't abandon Wong.

The Black Ant raises his visor, and unmasks himself. He's Mitch Carson. His suit owes its powers to Cross particles-the same ones he stole from Pym Tech the day Ant-Man blew up a building and crashed a sale. Now Carson's gone back to what he's good at.

Exactly what this has to do with that... That remains to be seen.

Carson sees Knight's prosthetic arm. There's something about it... He thinks she's one of Garrett's. He thinks she's a Deathlok.

Knight asks him who he is. Carson growls, lowers his visor, shrinks, and leaps at her.

Knight's arm gives her enhanced reflexes, and she swats Black Ant away. She grabs Wong, and drags him away.

The gate is far. Knight and Wong will both be lucky if they get out of here before that dragon comes back for more.

Black Ant resizes himself to normal, in the sky. He lands atop Knight, pins her, and starts punching her. Knight doesn't understand. She's not a Deathlok, and she's never met Jon Garrett.

And she never will. Jon Garrett's been dead for years.

Somewhere nearby, a Hemi roars. Black Ant slows down, and looks around. His visor is still down. Knight seizes the opportunity, and throws Black Ant off her.

A black Dodge Charger charges into the midst. It spins to a stop, throwing up gravel and smoke in the process. The driver door flies open. A still-young and -handsome Robbie Reyes jumps out.

"He's hurt," Knight shouts. "Get him out of here!"

Reyes isn't sure what's going on. But he sees Wong's injured body, grabs his robe, and drags him into the backseat of his Charger. Meanwhile, Knight and Carson continue to have at it. Reyes re-mounts his Charger and drives away in a flash.

Reyes feels bad about leaving Knight alone with Black Ant. Alas, Wong will die if he doesn't get medical help, so away he must drive.

He finds the back road, and takes it. He speeds. He must. He doesn't want Wong to die en route to care.

Reyes's haste is cut short, of course, by flashing roof sirens behind him. They flash red, blue, and very bright. Reyes sighs, and looks for somewhere to pull over. He won't have to.

A brighter orange light blazes behind him. And an explosion blows the Charger a few feet forward. Reyes looks behind him. Part of the Charger's rear end is on fire.

He looks in his rearview mirror. He can't believe it, but something else is chasing him. He thinks it just blew up the cop car behind him, but he's not sure. It looks like something straight out of a Daenerys Targaryen episode of Game of Thrones.

Wizardkiller's airborne, and is chasing him. Reyes has fair reason to believe that that dragon is MUCH faster than a Charger.

(Sorry, Dukes of Hazzard...)

Reyes slams the brakes. In the back, Wong moans. Reyes throws a blanket over him, and tells him to stay where he is. Wong coughs up blood while trying to laugh at that.

Reyes grabs a chain, and goes outside. He approaches the dragon. The dragon flies up a bit, and lands. The Purple Rider is still atop him.

Reyes's head transforms into a flaming skull. He takes the chain in hand, augments it with fiery power, and swings it like a lasso. This reptilian bastard is going to hell. Wizardkiller bares his fangs, as if he's ready-and as if he has no idea what's coming.

The Purple Rider narrows her glowing purple eyes. Reyes doesn't yet know what she's capable of...

"Stand..." she starts to whisper.

Behind Reyes, a portal has opened. Mordo is standing in it. He's shaking his head, and signalling the duo inside. Reyes stands still...as he's inadvertently been told.

The Purple Rider sighs, and flips the bird at Reyes. She also holds up a finger, as if signalling him to wait. Reyes regains control over his actions. There's no need to have him wait in suspense as long as Purple Rider doesn't know when or if they'll meet again.

They'd better, though. Wong's Wizardkiller's target-and Mordo's, for that matter...

Wizardkiller spreads his wings, and flies through the portal. Reyes doesn't see Mordo inside before it closes.

On the downside, the bad guys got away. On the upside, Reyes won't likely be attacked again between here and...

A motor runs in the distance. Reyes looks around. Jones has caught up. She rolls down her window, and tells Reyes to follow her.

Reyes gets back into his Charger, and does. Once again, the infirmary in Jones's apartment is in business...as if it wasn't already too busy.


	8. Chapter 8

Carson wakes. He's tied to a chair. He's in a dojo. He's being patrolled by two captors: a yellow sensei and a black cyborg.

He hates that cyborg. And he's going to get her...if it's the last thing he does...

Wing and Knight seem very much at ease. They're smiling. Carson's smiling too. The Daughters of the Dragon have NO idea what they've gotten themselves into by taking him captive...

They ask him the usual bullshit, of course. What he was doing at the docks. Why he tried to kill Wong. Why he tried to kill Knight with noticeably more force.

Wing's fists sure took a beating that night, by the way. Her qi won't be awakening for a while.

Carson doesn't talk, of course. He tells them to kiss their own asses-and that he would certainly kiss both of theirs if he was ever the lucky man who owned their hearts.

Knight rushes forth, and tries to hit him, of course. Wing intervenes, and reminds her that this crazy shrinking man WANTS her to attack him. Knight sighs, and resumes her post. She checks the new messages on the telecomms on her arm.

The Black Ant's suit is sprawled out, and folded, on a low-lying table near a wall. Knight can't help but admire it. She still isn't sure how it's possible. If she knew how to make the suit interface with her arm, she'd try to wear it herself.

Beneath the bonds, Carson wears a black shirt with the big white letters "DEA" on the front. Wing scoffs, thinking that older men would be able to dress less like youths.

She reminds Carson that he said something about a Deathlok while at the docks. She invites him to elaborate on what a Deathlok is, and why he wants to kill one so much.

Carson scoffs. He always knew that Garrett loved torturing him, but to think that he'd program every single specimen of his legacy to not know who he was, or why he ever mattered, seems extreme for even him.

Knight assures him that she's never known anyone named Garrett. And even though she's never called herself Deathlok...that doesn't sound like the worst heroine name she could have for herself...

Wing stops her right there. She reminds her that if she gets a heroine name, they'll both have to have one.

Knight has stopped...but not for the reason Wing thinks. She's gotten a new message on her arm...from Jones.

Carson reminds them that he's the Black Ant. And one way or another, he will resume his duty, and he will topple a world government, and he will have his revenge against the cyborg supersoldier who dared make a fool out of him in the eyes of the cause.

Wing informs him that he's not the first captive who's ever been held in this dojo. (She doesn't tell him, of course, that that captive was an old lady, or that she escaped...)

Wing knows that Murakami is out there. And she's pretty sure he's plotting something...

Knight flags Wing's attention, and puts Jones's message on speakerphone. They and Carson listen.

It's Jones. She has a new client. She says that Davos is in jail and free at the same time. The client might be delusional, but Jones is looking at photo footage of Davos on the streets of the Big Apple that have eerily recent dates on them.

Knight and Wing trade insecure looks. Carson only smiles.

Knight visits Jones in a separate room, just to be sure. Jones shows her Madani's photos. She can't believe what she's seeing. She remembers helping Wing beat Davos into submission. Both halves of him should be in the Raft-as the DHS decided to send him, having labeled him a known threat to homeland security. She borrows a few, to show to Wing.

Jones is going after Free Davos. She tells her and Wing to stay at the dojo. She's aware the Daughters of the Dragon have a history with Davos, and therefore they shouldn't be expected to put him away again so soon after having done it before. Knight understands, and thanks Jones.

Knight shows Wing the photos. She can't believe it either. She's learned about some pretty crazy things since meeting Rand. But if Davos doesn't have the Iron Fist with him-if he does have the Fist with him-he shouldn't be able to be in two places at once.

Carson only smiles. He knows what's going on, of course; but also of course, he won't tell his beautiful captors anything.

Jones yells over their amusement, and bids them adieu. She'd hate to crash this tempting "girl talk" moment, but Davos has a doppelganger out there she needs to find.

Jones briefly acknowledges Carson...who sends a flirtatious look her way, of course. Jones flips him the bird, and leaves the dojo in...as much peace as she can, considering that Wing and Knight are holding Carson in it against his will.

Or, is Carson as unwilling as he seems? The ends will soon justify the means...however long they take to come to pass...

Wing tells her partner to get some rest. She hasn't since they caught Carson. She needs it more than Wing. Plus, it's apparent that Knight needs as much protection from Carson as she can get-as Carson needs as much from himself, because of Knight, that he can get.

Knight agrees, and goes to lie down. Wing stands firm, and patrols Carson's chair. Carson grins. The Daughters of the Dragon have NO idea what's coming.

The sun sets. The moon rises. Outside, it's a quiet night in Chinatown. TOO quiet...

Wing listens. In his chair, Carson appears to be asleep. The lights are on. Wing is tired, and anxiously awaits her own turn at some rest.

She hears something. She looks around. She thinks she sees a shadow outside...but it passes. She tries to calm the qi energy in her fists.

Knight comes back. She's ready to pick up Wing's slack. Wing tells her to be quiet. Knight understands her signal, and raises her guard. She arms her arm. In the chair, Carson doesn't move.

Someone is outside. And Wing, at least, is about to get haunted by a VERY dangerous ghost from her boyfriend's past...


	9. Chapter 9

Someone's outside Wing's dojo. And they might not be alone...

Wing powers her fists. They glow white. Knight arms her arm. She gives Black Ant's suit a sad look.

Carson smiles. He doesn't dread this one bit.

Murakami falls from the dojo rafters. Wing's fists darken. Knight gapes. Murakami greets them in Japanese.

Wing and Knight surround Carson. They insist that Carson's their prisoner, and he's not leaving this dojo.

Murakami nods, admitting he understands. But then, that's why he's brought backup.

"STEP AWAY FROM HIM!"

Without trying to, Knight and Wing back away from Carson. They look around, and at each other, confused.

"Pretend to be statues," she orders. "And keep your weaponry sheathed!"

Both Daughters obey. They still don't know what's going on...

Murakami smiles, and walks past them. Neither Knight nor Wing flinch. And he walks right past their arms... He cuts Carson loose, of course, with a dagger-the same one he once almost killed Jones with.

"You died," Wing says, while still standing still. "A building fell on you."

Murakami starts to say something in Japanese. The strange feminine voice orders him to speak English.

Murakami hesitates, but speaks. "The Daredevil survived, didn't he?"

Carson doesn't take long to put his Black Ant suit back on. He swaggers next to Murakami, who's drawn a pair of tonfas.

A woman appears, next to Murakami. She wears purple clothing. She's brunette...like her father, Kevin Thompson. Jones would know him as Kilgrave.

Knight asks who she is. Wing's wondering the same thing.

Thompson just smiles. "Let's just say that I'm only here for the money. And so far, it's been fun. I've gotten to ride a dragon, and everything!"

"So," Wing sneers, "you're the Purple Rider. Not to be rude, but...why did you run?"

Thompson tells them that they're not her targets. Her boss only wants her and the dragon to kill specific people. He never says why; he just gives her their names and descriptions, and sends the dragon to where they are. She reminds them that she still owes Wong an execution...if he isn't dead already.

Here, Carson admits that he shouldn't be. As badly as his army of ants ate up Wong, they could've done worse.

And here, he takes the opportunity to enlarge his fists to the size of boxing gloves, and punch Knight-several times, as if she were a punching bag. He shrinks himself, and goes rappelling into her boobs. He spelunks in her panties. He crawls into her prosthetic arm, and sabotages it.

Thompson sighs, lumbers over, and kicks Knight in the ass. "Hey, Carson! You about done in there? The boss expects us back soon!"

Black Ant leaps out of Knight's boobs, and re-sizes himself back to normal. He slaps Knight on the ass, really hard, and admits that Garrett might not have made a bad choice choosing a hot black girl to be his next protege. With some luck, she should be the only thing he made better than Grant Ward. But with a lot of Carson's luck, however, he's going to find out who Knight's next fiance's going to be, and he's going to show up at the wedding, and make himself look like a hero while...

Thompson puts her hand on Carson's shoulder, and reminds him that there'll be better times. Carson sighs, shrinks himself, and stows away in Thompson's bra.

Thompson walks in circles around the petrified Wing, and sighs. "Those fists," she mutters sadly. "You remind me, a bit, of the targets I've thus been sent to kill. Too bad I haven't seen you open portals to faraway places...like my boss has." She leans in. "SO cool," she whispers, "by the way..."

Wing's eyes bug slightly. Knight's narrow...along with the leak of "rape tears" already running from them.

Murakami walks around the frozen Daughters, flipping his tonfas in his hands. He reminds them that they once tried to withhold the Iron Fist from him and his fellow Hand leaders.

With that, he uses one tonfa to knock Wing unconscious. He uses the other, of course, to do the same thing to Knight. On the upside, they don't have to tire themselves to stand still anymore. On the other hand, this is not a very strategic place for either of them to lose consciousness.

Murakami re-handles his tonfas. He admits that if he didn't already know of a way he and the Hand could get what they still need without having to kidnap Rand again, he wouldn't leave Wing or Knight alive.

The Daughters don't hear this, alas. They're both unconscious.

Thompson smiles, and asks Murakami what they should do about the Daughters. Wing might be one of the boss's targets...

Murakami shakes his head. He knows Wing, and he knows the boss's targets, and she isn't one. Nonetheless, they're a liability as long as they've seen as much as they have. But still, they're both WAY too pretty to just dispose of on the spot...

Black Ant raises his arm, from between Thompson's boobs, signalling that he agrees. Thompson sighs, and uses her finger to stuff Carson back down between them.

Thompson admits that as strong as they both are, she could use her powers to turn them into weapons against anyone who dares oppose her, Murakami, and the rest of the team. Murakami likes the sound of that...but admits he doesn't anticipate anything that might happen to him, or Free Davos, if Thompson can't keep them in line.

Thompson assures them both that she is the daughter of Kilgrave. Only one person has ever resisted her father's mind control and succeeded...and the chances are one in seven billion that she lives anywhere in the Big Apple.

And here, it's pretty clear that Thompson's father was SO bad at fathering, that he clearly never taught his daughter the difference between slim chance and no chance...


	10. Chapter 10

Across the ocean, the Raft hovers just beneath the surface. It's a prison. Superpowered criminals are held here. One time, the Raft almost incarcerated Jones's mother.

Somewhere out there, a hovercraft signals to it. The Raft surfaces itself. Water pours from its scuppers, and back into the ocean. The tarmac atop it is quite clear.

The hovercraft lands. Dinah Madani gets out. She flashes her DHS badge, of course. The guards take her below deck.

She enters a hallway. There are iron horizontal bars on both sides. There are many cells. A light flashes above the cell Madani's looking for...until she gets to it, and they turn it off.

Madani peers in. Prison life hasn't made Davos any softer. He still wants revenge against Danny Rand and Colleen Wing. Sadly, of course, that's not what Madani's here for.

Madani identifies herself. Davos doesn't respond.

She tells him that someone sighted him in Chinatown, and reported it. But the police records, of course, say that he's in the Raft.

Davos gives her a stony look. He shakes the metal bars of his cell, and asks her if she seriously thinks it's possible that he's been to town lately.

Madani isn't saying it was Davos. She's just here to ask him if he has any male relatives who look exactly like him.

Davos scoffs. He reminds her that even if he did, they all would've died when the Hand destroyed K'un-Lun. He kicks the walls of his cell, as he still blames Rand for his people's eradication. But Madani's just a DHS agent; she's not supposed to believe in that shit.

Madani smirks, and reminds him that if K'un-Lun does exist-or did exist, rather-and if its people came to the United States to attack it, her belief in it would be of no consequence. New York still remembers what Davos did to it back when he was the Iron Fist, and the DHS would react with whatever force they had to if such superpowered folk ever attacked American lives again.

Davos misses the point of Madani's monologue, and reminds her that American lives are the only one she cares about, and that the lives of K'un-Lun folk will never matter to her for that reason. And what's sad is that she's not even an American; she's naught more than an Iranian privateer whom Uncle Sam pays to wage a war against her own kin.

Certain that she's gotten the information she's come for, Madani leaves Davos in...peace. Except now she's going to have to find a way to explain to the NYPD that Davos is somehow in two places at once.

At Alias Investigations, the ER has gotten more traumatic. It's just admitted a new patient.

Johnson looks over Wong. He's been bitten pretty badly. He looks like he tried to pretend to be a statue while standing in an ant nest. Except there's...blackening, and depth...where there wouldn't be with, normal ant bites...she'd think...

Jones chuckles. She remarks that she's shocked Johnson wasn't raised in Africa, and doesn't know these things for sure.

Johnson gives her a cold stare. She reminds her that her mother was Black Mariah, and of course she's never been to Africa. With that, she scurries off to get some soap and water. Jones sits next to Wong's cot, and tries to talk to him.

Johnson does admit, though, that a weird Belgian man with a metal arm, who she once dated, once promised to take her to Africa and see the sights. Alas, a few relatively monotonous dates later, he stopped calling her.

He reminded her, in his own way, of Gollum in the Lord of the Rings...if Gollum were taller, Belgian, and a cyborg.

To Wong, Jones poses the basics. Why he's stealing books. Why he has so many. From where he stole all the others. Why there are mystical relics stacked in the warehouse as well. Why it feels so dizzying in that warehouse. Why she can fly while she's in it-and can't seem to do it right anywhere else. Why the dragon attacked him. Where the dragon came from. What he knows about Kilgrave's bastardess, or why she's riding the damn lizard. Who she's working with. Why the black ant attacked him...

Wong moans in pain. In his own cot, Murdock shakes his head. He's blindfolded. He's more conscious than before.

Murdock remarks that he doesn't think Wong's saying anything. And it's eerie, too. He can hear Wong screaming (TOO much, if he dares say so), but he can't tell Wong's in a cot next to him. It's like he's intangible and weightless.

Jones scoffs, and tells Murdock not to be ridiculous. For all she cares, Murdock's been blind for so long that his remaining four senses have gotten so powerful that now they've gained the power to delude their owners into thinking that someone who isn't there really is.

Murdock shrugs, and admits that the Hand did once take him by surprise in that warehouse with the hole in it. And that as a matter of fact, he DOES have a vague memory of getting injured in that precise way...right after he thought he'd defeated the Owl...

Jones perks her ears, and asks about the Owl. Murdock elaborates, and says he was fighting the Owl before he got injured. He's very quiet, and he can glide short distances. Murdock doesn't think he's working alone.

Jones perks her ears when Murdock reveals that Owl can glide. This gives her a crazy idea...

But it'll have to wait. Reyes is waiting in her office, and he still doesn't know what's going on. Jones doesn't either, but... She leaves Wong and Murdock to rest, and attends to Reyes.

She sits at her desk. Reyes is admiring the selection of booze on her dresser. He remarks that she should try Crystal Head vodka. Or at least, he considers the skull-shaped bottles they come in as collectibles, for sure; personally, though, he's always admired teetotalers...

Jones asks him the basics. Where he came from. Where he got that Dodge Charger. Why he tried to fight the dragon alone. If he knew the dragon's rider could control minds. Why the dragon didn't attack him. How he can turn into a flaming skeleton. How he can empower chains like he does...

Reyes responds by saying that whenever interdimensional travel happens, he can sense it. He didn't know what to expect when he drove to the docks. He didn't know Knight, Wong, Kilgrave's bastardess, or Jones before that night. And, he tells her the story of the Ghost Rider-which she doesn't believe, of course.

Madani creeps in. Jones, who's getting bored with Reyes's story, points at her, and asks her what she wants. Madani says, plainly, she wants to hire her. Jones hold up her finger, and tells her to wait.

Jones doesn't believe in interdimensional travel. And she suspects that Reyes has more to do with this than he's talking about. Nonetheless, she owes him for the ambulance service. She asks him to name his price.

Reyes stands, and thanks her. As nice as this has been, there's a very dangerous dragon from an alternate reality out there who could hurt a lot of people if someone doesn't either tether him or send him back. And he doesn't expect this world to keep that beast tethered for long-not even with the Raft. He leaves Jones his contact info, in case that dragon decides to come back for more-and he surely will, seeing as he was clearly aiming for Wong, and seems very much aware that he missed.

Jones smiles, and waves goodbye-and suddenly remembers how much she misses Arocho. Fucking Latino charmers.

Reyes leaves. Madani takes his seat. She looks around, and smiles. "So," she remarks, "this is Alias Investigations."

Jones shrugs. "It's always a work in progress...but it works."

Madani reveals that they've never met. But naturally, she's heard of her work and what she can do, and that they might have a mutual connection with Karen Page.

Jones admits she doesn't know Page as well as Murdock, but that Page is the reason why she and Johnson are taking care of the injured Murdock, and not her. With that, Jones cuts the small talk and asks her what business the DHS wants with her.

Madani smiles, and reveals that she's actually here as a person. She acknowledges the Latino who just left. "Is that Oscar? He's cute!"

"Oh no!" Jones chuckles. "No, that's not Oscar. His... His name is Robbie Reyes. He," clears her throat, "sends people to hell."

But in a way Madani's problem is the DHS's, as it is New York's. Less than a year ago, the NYPD arrested a foreigner named Davos. He was convicted of mass murder and racketeering, and sentenced to the Raft. Madani just visited the Raft, and hence knows that Davos is still there. But here's the curveball: police departments all over New York have been reporting the sightings of a foreigner who looks a ghostly lot like Davos. And right now both the NYPD and the DHS are stumped, because they don't know how to tell the press that Davos is in jail AND on the streets at the same time.

Jones nods, and recalls Davos. She heard about how the Daughters of the Dragon took him down.

Madani needs Jones to find this Davos, and try to talk to him. Madani would do it herself, except she's afraid that Free Davos is going to run-or try to kill her-if he finds out she's a DHS agent. Plus, as a DHS agent, Madani has orders to follow. And she can't swear to her boss that Free Davos is a threat to homeland security as long as all he's done is look like Raft Davos.

Jones admits that she was working on two cases. But seeing as she's pretty certain that they both got solved by the chaos at the docks, she agrees to take Madani's case.

They shake hands. Madani passes along to Jones what she knows: photos of where Free Davos has been. She also adds that more than once, Free Davos has committed some minor crime-which he was later bailed for. The police stations have security photos of the people who pay the bail-which Madani also delivers-but no ID on them.

Jones assures her that she'll get to work on it. She'll also let Wing and Knight know that there's another Davos in New York. They won't be happy to find out, Jones is sure-but in the long term, at least, they'll be better off knowing. She sends Knight a text.

Madani thanks Jones, leaves her her DHS card, and leaves. Jones is tempted to drown the card in booze and light it aflame, as a means of cursing the federal government-but decides against it. Madani is abominable-but she's not that bad at making deals. And professionally, Jones must assume that Madani is a good girl until proven a bitch.

Jones assesses the police's info on Free Davos. She deduces, based on Free Davos's apparent behavior, that Chinatown is the best place to start her hunt for him. So once again, she leaves Johnson to her duties at her apartment, while she pays Chinatown a visit. Madani-forbid if she meets a cokey bloke named Smokey who shows her how to kick the gong around...

Damn, Jones misses Cab Calloway. How come Luke hasn't met his protege already?

The main building of Rand Enterprises towers over Chinatown. Jones parks in its lot, while searching for Free Davos on foot.

Wing's dojo looks nice. It's a good thing the public can't tell, from out here, that Wing and Knight are holding an old man against his will inside.

Jones goes to a Chinese botanical garden, which Free Davos was reported to have been at, and eavesdrops. He was here, alright. And he acted weird, too. She hears someone say that he drank from the koi pond.

Free Davos is a foreigner, alright. And yet, from what Jones remembers hearing about him, he was MUCH more civilized when Wing and Knight apprehended his Raft-incarcerated counterpart.

An old Japanese man sits on the bench next to Jones. Jones tries not to notice him. He doesn't speak. He...seems to be here for the same reason she is.

Jones doesn't usually do this, but she tries to make small talk. It suddenly occurs to her that this man might not know English.

Jones hesitates. She looks the man up and down. She's seen him before, she thinks. But she can't quite remember where...

She asks him about it. He merely hides his face, and tries to look clueless.

Jones admits that she gets a lot of Asian clients. She ends up not being able to help many of them, alas. She doesn't know many other languages besides English. She's thought of learning Spanish for Arocho's sake, but...she's figured that as long as he clearly loves her for who she is, there's no foreseeable need...

The man says goodbye, in Japanese, and scurries away. Jones shrugs, and returns to tracking Free Davos.

Her phone buzzes. She checks it. It's Owlsley. He's wondering why she hasn't called.

Jones smiles, and texts back. She tells him she's solved his case. She's found his missing books, but hasn't reported them yet. Life's been too crazy. She texts him the warehouse's address at the docks. Owlsley thanks him-with a text balloon with multiple hearts in it.

Jones smiles, and puts her phone away. She thinks she might be falling for Owlsley...but isn't sure.

She continues her hunt. The sun gets low. It sets. She keeps her ears open. As often as Free Davos has been making the news, he won't likely keep quiet for long. She listens.

Interesting; this suburb seems devoid of Free Davos. Jones doesn't get it. Maybe someone's gotten to him first? But who? Who else is there? Has he met a beautiful Jewish princess who's refined him, or something?

Jones senses she's not alone. Something keeps gleaming from the top of a building. It's dark; there shouldn't be any light up there. There shouldn't be anyone up there...

She creeps up the fire escape. It seems to be the only way up. OTOH, Murdock did tell her something about an evil vigilante in the area who can glide short distances. She flexes her bare arms, and proceeds...

Someone's up here, alright. They're dressed up, and perched on a rail.

Jones sighs, and marches halfway across the roof. She asks her what her business is up here.

The overdressed person gets off the rail, puts her arms up, and turns. She removes her balaclava.

In a way, she looks like Trish. But as long as Jones has known Walker, she knows, to her relief, that this is a different person.

Jones asks her the basics. What she's doing up here. Why she's dressed like a hunter. What business a blonde chick with blue eyes has in Chinatown, of all places.

She tells Jones to ease up on the racism. The place is called Chinatown; anyone can live here if they have to.

Jones acknowledges this, and apologizes. But it still seems queer.

She identifies herself as Typhoid Walker. She's here because word in the streets is that there's someone back on them who she needs to settle a score with.

Jones, of course, notes this as unfortunate. Not only does this woman look like Trish; she's got the same last name. Quicksilver-forbid if they have the same Zodiac sign. Not that Jones keeps up with that sort of thing, or anything...

Walker apologizes if her attire looks weird. She wore rags like these all the time in the US Army. She was a sergeant. Nowadays, though, she's just a hit man for hire.

Jones asks her who her target is. Walker grins, and reminds her she doesn't have to tell her that.

Jones charges her. She takes her by the throat, and threatens to drop her into the alley.

Walker reacts, of course. She shouts, thrashes, and begs Jones to put her down. By some miracle, Jones puts her down. There's just something about the way Walker begs that scares her, somewhat...

Walker apologizes for her recklessness. It's just that she's just become aware of a sister of hers, and this seems like the kind of circumstances that would...

Jones asks her about her "sister." Walker shakes her head, and tells her that her target's name is Davos.

Jones's eyes bug. She's almost tempted to make a deal with Walker...

They're not alone. Jones looks around. Someone's standing nearby. It's a man...and he's foreign.

Walker narrows her eyes, and draws twin machetes. Davos responds by clapping his hands, and lighting his fists. They glow red. He's the Steel Serpent, and he wields the Serpent's Sting.

Walker rests her machetes, slightly. Jones flexes her bare arms, and asks him what he's doing in two places at the same time.

"I always knew there were other possibilities," he says. "I just never thought I'd live long enough to embrace them."

"I fought you," Walker sneers. "I saw you go to jail!"

He stares at her. "I'm sorry...have we met?"

She screams, and charges him. Davos hammers his fists together, and creates powerful sound waves. They knock Walker off-balance, and knock her over. Jones has to cover her ears.

"You've been following me," he says. "What is it?"

Jones tells him that his twin, or whoever he is, is in prison. He needs to go back.

"I'm right where I belong," he says. "Now if you don't mind," he lights up his fists again, "I have some business here to attend to, so if all you two chicks are going to do is follow me..."

A portal opens. A sorcerer falls through it. Aloft, the portal closes. Jones has seen those boots before...

He takes a club from his robes, and extracts it into a staff. Walker and Jones look around, confused. Davos rests his fists. The sorcerer holds his staff over his shoulder and smiles.

"I appreciate your interest in my dragon expert," he says. "But as the man said, he's got places to be."

Jones looks him up and down. She KNOWS she's seen those boots before.

"I've seen you," she says. "You were at the border crossing, with..." She flexes her bare arms, and faces him. "Where is she?!"

"You'll soon meet her." Mordo swings his staff around. Jones doesn't remember how, but she gets knocked out. Nearby, Walker does too.

He opens two portals, which they both fall through. He closes them, and bows towards Davos.

"Thank you for alerting me, Master Davos. I'd hate to think what would've happened if those two ladies robbed me of my precious dragon expert."

Davos chuckles. "There were two of them...and they didn't seem to have an advantage as it was."


	11. Chapter 11

Mordo opens a portal. On the other side, Carson runs to it, and waits. A man straggles. He has a very large and very bald head.

He makes it through. Carson does too. Mordo closes the portal. He shakes the other man's hand.

"Welcome to the team," Mordo smiles, "Dr. Sterns."

Sterns gawks at their surroundings. He can't believe this is really a pocket universe...

Carson is tired. He shakes his head at Mordo, recounting that it was one of the hardest prison breaks of his career-and he was breaking people out of prisons long before he ever wore the Black Ant suit for the first time.

Jones, Walker, Wing, and Knight are all being held captive in here. They have no memory of how they got here, and no clue about how to escape.

Jones tries pounding against the transparent walls. They're stronger than her.

Walker becomes Bloody Mary, and sees if she can't rip the walls of her cells apart-as she did when she escaped from that POW camp in Sokovia all those years ago. Alas, even the worst of Walker's three alternate personalities are no match for this cage.

Wing summons her Iron Fist, and tries to smash her way out. She knocks herself unconscious instead.

Knight tries a lot of weaponry in her arm. Alas, Carson damaged a lot of it when he raped her. And the ones still intact are too small-caliber to do a lot of damage to her cage walls. Power Woman, Typhoid, and the Daughters of the Dragon are all helpless POWs.

Jones pounds against the walls of her cage with her arms. They vibrate-but they don't give. She keeps it up. She gets tired.

She sees a man through the vibrating wall. She can't tell who he is while it's vibrating. It takes a while for it to stop. She is both shocked and not shocked to see who her captor is.

"Lee?! You're...you're working with Davos?!"

"And company," Owlsley admits. He reaches his finger out towards her. Her cell wall vibrates as he drags his finger in romantic circles around Jones's face. Jones loses it, and pounds the center of the circle with her fist; she squalls in pain.

"You can save your strength, Jones. I don't know the man who made them, but I trust him."

Jones asks him why, of course. Or rather, she asks him what.

Here, Owlsley tells her the truth. His father was Leland Owlsley. He was a great accountant in New York finance. Lee looked up to his father...despite the sorrowful fact he was never around as often as he would've liked. But then, one day, his father got thrown from the top of a building, and killed. Nobody saw it, but Lee's pretty damn certain that a vigilante did it-and he thinks he knows which one.

The news calls him the Daredevil-or the Devil of Hell's Kitchen. Lee recounts his last fight with him. He's fast, and his reflexes are hard to follow. He's always where he's supposed to be when he is-and to think that he fights blindfolded.

Jones chuckles when Owlsley says this. She recalls the time Murdock didn't have a blindfold of his own, and borrowed her scarf for the occasion.

Owlsley notices her chuckle, and asks about it. Jones shrugs, and admits that she's fought Daredevil before-which is a slight truth.

Daredevil killed Owlsley's father-so he says. And he wants revenge. And he's found a brotherhood of men who're willing to help him get it, all while ridding the world of a dangerous minority of its population. And he's the one signing all their paychecks-with all the necessary help from a couple of ladies named Carbone and Meachum.

Jones warns him that he's wasting his time. Daredevil isn't a killer, and doesn't plan to start anytime soon.

Owlsley pounds his fist against the wall of Jones's cell, and sneers that Daredevil has killed many-with his father being part of the proof. And one way or another, with or without Jones's cooperation, Daredevil's horned helmet WILL appear on a silver platter that he gets out of this job-and Daredevil's head WILL be in it when he dumps oil all over it, roasts it, and throws it into a flaming barrel of liquor.

Jones chuckles, and remarks that he'll need some REALLY potent booze to turn Daredevil's head into ash. And if such a booze ever existed, Jones wouldn't drink it-because she respects herself too much.

Owlsley tells Jones that she can sing Daredevil's praises all she wants to. But until then, his team has plans for all four of her. So if he were her, she'd start conditioning herself. He wouldn't know it-because he's always been too rich to need to join the U.S. Army Reserve-but life in a reserve army is a LOT harder than the movie In the Army Now makes it look-especially since all four of her will be spending most of their conscious moments of it in cages that make the barracks in that movie-if there ever were any-look like eighteen-room mansions.

He starts to leave. Jones reminds him of all the intimate moments they've shared, and asks him how the hell they're not influential enough to let her and her-female acquaintances, and occasional coworkers-go.

Owlsley shrugs, and reminds her that he's known his father longer than he's known her, and that she shouldn't be too upset if a man she likes chooses his own family over love-especially if love is a girl they've just met. He starts to leave again.

Jones yells at him, and admits that she doesn't know what sucks more: that she fell for a chicken who thinks that his father was the Holy Chickenhawk, or that the Holy Chickenhawk never hunted that chicken half as much as Henri Hawk ever hunted Foghorn Leghorn. At this, Owlsley hesitates...but storms away.

In her cage, Wing makes a disgusted face, and shakes her head. Knight smiles, recalling when she looked Black Mariah in the eyes, and accused her and Shades Alvarez of being cougar and cougar bait, respectively-or "a fawn," as she remembers calling Alvarez.

"There are no barracks in In the Army Now." Walker appears to loathe Owlsley as he leaves. "Seriously; the movie was about the Army Reserve. Who taught that man Army lore, and why aren't they dead?!"

"Which Walker are we talking to," Wing asks. "Innocent, Typhoid, or Bloody?"

Walker scoffs. "It's Typhoid now." She studies the walls of her cage. "And based on the fact that we're all still in here, something tells me that none of us are escaping anytime soon?"

Knight nods sadly. Jones slaps her hands against her cage walls in rage.

"Just one thought," Wing shares. "If Bloody Mary had been able to bust out of her own cage, would she have come back for the three of us?"

Walker shrugs. "I don't know them. I've never met them. I just have to live with them. They communicate with me, but it's always unclear. But above all this, I'm sure of one thing: I worry about Innocent Mary all the time."

Jones shakes her head, and asks about what this is. Wing and Knight explain that Walker is three different people on one body.

Jones scoffs. "First wizards, then dragons, then hell-damners who drive Dodge Chargers, then twins from different realities, and now vets with different personalities. What's next? Dragons from space?"

"I sure hope not," Wing admits. "It's hard enough dealing with Shou-Lao's brother from another Earth."


	12. Chapter 12

In an alley behind Jeri Hogarth's new law firm, it feels desolate. Barely a breeze blows.

Above it, a portal opens. A witch falls through. Above her, the portal vanishes. She opens her magnificent, hypnotizing eyes, and gazes around...

In Jones's apartment, Wong sleeps. He's been doing that since he got here. He snores. Murdock, with his super-hearing due to his blindness, can't get any rest as long as he has to share the only bedroom in a PI's apartment with a snoring Master of the Mystic Arts.

In another room, Johnson does her yoga. She wears headphones, on which Cecile's "Hot Like We" plays. She misses McIver's inspirations, and his business...but from what she heard, he was a bit of a freak. She would know; she saw him naked while empowering him for his fights against Luke Cage and Black Mariah's expendables.

He was rather hot, actually. Mustn't dwell; he's back in Jamaica now, for all she knows or cares...

Her eyes are closed. Thus, she isn't watching when someone walks in. He calls a few times. But either he's speaking in Spanish, or the music's turned up too loud.

He caresses her bare shoulder. She spins, and faces him. He seems taken aback. She sighs, turns off her music, and pulls out the earbuds.

It's Reyes. He's looking for Jones.

Johnson shrugs, and recounts that Jones went out a long time ago. She didn't say much, but she did say something about going after an escaped convict who never really escaped.

Reyes gives her a strange look. Johnson asserts that those were Jones's words; not hers.

Reyes is thankful. He'd hate to think that a hot black bitch like her is insane asylum material.

At this, Johnson would blush...if she weren't black.

In the bedroom, Wong sits bolt upright in bed. His eyes are bugging. Murdock hears him. He asks what's wrong.

Wong's panting. "Mordo's coming! He's after us! He's coming!"

Murdock shakes his head, in confusion. "Who?!"

Reyes tells Johnson that he's felt some more interdimensional travel in the area, and that he would've come to tell Jones about it. He thinks he knows where it's happening, but he hasn't gotten a chance to go spelunking into it yet.

Johnson laughs, and admits that she doesn't know who sounds more crazy: Jones for hunting an escaped convict who never escaped, or a cute Latino like Reyes believing in interdimensional travel. And to think that Johnson's helping Jones take care of this scarily-injured friend of his-especially since she seems to be unfairly biased against people who've committed matricide.

Reyes arches his brows, and admits that had to kill his uncle once. But he felt no remorse. His uncle turned a lot of people into wraiths, and stole a lot of matter from Hell. Johnson finds this testimony amusing, but tries not to laugh; he's so cute, and she just can't believe he's crazy.

Johnson admits her mother was a bitch too. She killed her own cousin-Johnson's second cousin-and then she killed the only person who witnessed her killing Cornell Stokes. She ran for public office while financing underground crime. And then she dumped liquor all over an innocent Jamaican, lit him aflame, and shot him with a pistol. What's worse, she poisoned Luke Cage against Harlem. And the whole time, Johnson abetted her cause for that by abetting McIver. But then at some point, Cage and McIver became allies, so it wasn't all in vain. It took a lot of willpower for Johnson to kill her mother...but she did it for the common good, and to permanently rid Harlem of the painful memories of the scars the Stokes family has ever left on them-which, for a time, will run so deep that they make Abomination's fight with the Hulk seem petty and forgettable.

Reyes doesn't follow most of that, but he can tell that Johnson's a kindred spirit. He invites her to go out on a date with him when he's not spelunking in the new pocket universe he thinks he's found.

A woman surprises them, at the front door, by recounting her experience with pocket universes. In the future, her mentor teaches her a lot of very valuable lessons about the use, and more usual abuse, of pocket dimensions.

Johnson shakes her head, and admits that this neighborhood just keeps getting weirder.

The new visitor dresses similarly to Wong. She introduces herself as Clea. She's from the future. She's also a sorceress.

Reyes and Johnson stare at her. Johnson breaks the ice, and says she's just going to check on the patients.

But her patients soon rid her of her need. They both surprise them in the doorway of Jones's bedroom. Murdock tells them they've got a problem. He seems recovered; Wong not so much.

Clea beams excitedly, runs to Wong, and hugs him. Wong embraces her, confused. Clea acknowledges this, and shakes his hand. She says who she is, and how she knows him in the future.

Wong holds up his hand, and reminds her that it's dangerous to tell someone from the past too much about the future. Clea admits this, and recounts that her mentor, in the future, teaches her this.

They're all joined by a blonde medic-who bears remarkable resemblance to Regina George in Mean Girls. She scurries in, and checks Wong's wounds. She's crept out by them. She asks Wong if he's been pretending to be a statue while standing on an ant mound.

Johnson grins, and admits that that's what she said.

Wong introduces the nurse as Christine Palmer. She's a surgeon at Metro-General Hospital, and the ex-lover of one of Wong's fellow Masters of the Mystic Arts.

Reyes trades looks, from Wong to Clea, gaping. He accuses them of being the interdimensional travelers he's been sensing.

Murdock interrupts them, and tells them it's a lot more complicated than that. There's a very powerful sorcerer in town. He's recruited a team of vigilantes, and he's sworn an oath to eliminate the multiverse of sorcerers. That won't be hard for him to do on Earth, since Earth is currently without a Sorcerer Supreme of sorcerers.

Wong trades monologue passages with Murdock, and suggests that Mordo might be hiding in the pocket universe Reyes thinks he's found. He thinks that Mordo's imported a dragon from an alternate reality, and plans to use it as the vanguard in his assault on all of Earth's sorcery. Mordo's already killed a sorcerer named Jonathan Pangborn. He's also killed a few others that Wong knows of.

Clea continues the monologue, and adds that in the future, when she's from, he kills many more too. She's come to here and now to do what she can to make sure that doesn't happen.

Murdock adds that Wong and Clea are both in danger as long as Mordo's nearby. They both need to ferry themselves to somewhere safe.

Wong laments that Mordo is a powerful sorcerer, and that hiding from him will be impossible. There's not likely anywhere in the universe or the multiverse where he won't find him and Clea and kill them both.

Clea looks around, and asks whose place this is. It looks shabby, she says.

Reyes tells Wong that he knows of a few dimensions. If he and Clea are thinking of a hiding place...

Wong stares at him, and asks who he is. Johnson laughs, and admits that she just got done asking him the same thing, and nothing he's said so far makes any...

In front of the other five in the room, Reyes transforms into the Ghost Rider. His skull blazes with illusory flames. Johnson, Clea, and Palmer all scream. Wong gapes.

Murdock, a blind man, admits that he can't see any of this, but that he does smell something burning. He asks why the fire alarm hasn't gone off.

Reyes changes back into himself, and tells them that his body plays host to the Ghost Rider. He can make demons real, and banish them to Hell. He came to New York because he felt it when this "dragon" Wong speaks of came to this reality. He's already tried to send it back once.

Johnson is too overwhelmed to add anything, but she asks him why he didn't. Reyes shrugged, and recounts that at first it acted like it wanted to play rough. But then it backed down, and ran through a portal nearby and disappeared. The portal closed before he could see where it went to.

Wong asks him if he knows from which specific reality the dragon came from. Reyes shrugs, and admits he hasn't been doing this for very long; his plan, at the time was to send the dragon to Hell.

Reyes also recounts that when he was preparing to lasso the dragon, its rider spoke to him. She only said one word, but for a very long moment-which felt eerie, even to him, the Ghost Rider-it felt almost like she was controlling him...

Johnson's confused. She asks how the dragon's rider was controlling him.

Murdock reminds the two sorcerers that they need to get them to safety. And something needs to be done about Mordo and his team of vigilantes, who won't likely stop until they've all done Mordo's bidding for him. Murdock isn't sure, but he thinks the Owl might be working for him too. There might be some members of the Hand under his command too; Murdock doubts that Owl could've beaten him the way he did without a Hand ninja's help-or the help of an army...

Reyes knows a few things about the Hand. They're in Los Angeles too. But ever since the Hand lost three of its fingers, the Hand's been less active. And therefore, if there are any Hand ninjas working with Mordo, they're not likely great in number.

Murdock admits that this seems correct. It seems like fewer foes he's been up against in Hell's Kitchen have been identifying themselves as Hand recently. And he's already tortured a member of the Yakuza; they're not recruiting around there, either. And Wing and Knight have told him they're not recruiting in Chinatown, either.

"So," Clea recounts, "there's Mordo, an owl, and a ninja... Who else?"

Wong recounts that an ant attacked him as he was fighting the dragon-or something that could've fooled him that way. And it had an army. They're the ones who made him sick. Their leader, whoever they are, is probably a member of that team too.

Palmer arches her brows, smiles, and admits that she KNEW these injuries had something to do with ants.

Reyes has been keeping up with SHIELD's affairs. He knows, from his recent tunings-in, that Samuel Sterns has escaped SHIELD custody. Mordo probably helped him escape. Reyes would've gone after him himself, except Sterns isn't much of a reality-traveler or a demon.

Johnson recounts that Jones has been following someone who she keeps describing as "Kilgrave's bastardess." It isn't clear to her, but based on the loathing way Jones often talks about the bastardess, whoever she is, she might be working for Mordo too.

Murdock admits that while that is a possibility, he wouldn't leap to conclusions. Jones has held bigger grudges against smaller people before, and this bastardess is probably no more loyal to her father than Johnson is to her mother.

Johnson appreciates that-VERY much. And then she reminds everyone that when Jones left, she said she was going to find an escaped convict who never escaped. Whoever he is, he might be working for Mordo too. It does seem rather suspicious that she hasn't come back yet...and they're all talking about an impending attack on a brace of sorcerers in her apartment/office...

Murdock reminds them that finding Jones can wait. But for now, they need to get Wong and Clea to safety before Mordo comes after them.

Palmer volunteers to take them to her place. She can't imagine that they'll be any worse company than her ex-boyfriend would be nowadays...wherever he is now...

Murdock admits that that sounds good for starters. Meanwhile, they need protection.

Reyes nods, and volunteers his help. He'd like another try at sending that dragon back to where it came from-and finding out from which reality it did, if he can.

Murdock smiles, and admits to having super-hearing. He can help Reyes with that, if he needs it.

Johnson stands, and admits that if she doesn't need to be a nurse to Murdock or Wong anymore, she'll aid the defensive as well. She's not sure what she can do with her herbs and her nightshade...but she's sure she'll think of something.

Murdock smiles, satisfied with the defensive's numbers as they stand. He regrets, and apologizes, that Jones is missing, Cage is in a bad place, Rand is in Asia, and Castle is in Europe. They'd be helpful if they all weren't detained. Although Murdock admits that he's not really looking forward to working with any of them again...

Reyes smiles, and claps his hands together. He asks how they're going to do this.

Murdock begins, by outlining that first, they separate. And then...they defend.


	13. Chapter 13

Mordo is ready for his next offense against Wong. He eagerly practices with the Staff of the Living Tribunal, and the Vaulting Boots of Valtorr.

He's in a public court in Kathmandu. He's put charms all around himself, so the naive public won't see what he's doing. He leaps. He becomes one with the staff, and uses it as a third pair of limbs. He barely misses the heads of women and children as he practices. He barely misses the heads of local constables.

At long last, he's gotten enough. He opens a portal, and goes back to New York. He opens another portal, and joins his team in the pocket universe. He barely misses out on being seen by Madani, as she's crossing the alley.

Thompson is there to greet him. It sure feels like she's been following him around a lot-and waiting like a lonely puppy for its master to get back from his day job.

She asks Mordo when they'll be killing another sorcerer. As much as she understands the discipline of target practice when she's not fighting, it seems like the only targets here worth practicing on are her teammates, and as a team player, she doesn't think...

Mordo stops her right there. Here, he dumps the bad news on her. She won't be riding Wizardkiller on the next mission. Sterns will be.

Thompson gapes. She then asks why she's still here if he's been so bold to give her job to another villain-who isn't half as pretty as her in a purple dress, if she might add-or any dress, for that matter, let alone a fake beard while singing "In the Jailhouse Now..."

Mordo reminds her that she just complained about not having anything to do target practice with. He reminds her of the four inmates they've just admitted, as well as Murakami's brilliant idea to weaponize them all.

Thompson seems disappointed. For moment, she'd hoped that Mordo had recruited Sterns to do that.

Mordo chuckles, and reminds her that Sterns is hardly a ladies' man. He couldn't even steal Betty Ross from Bruce Banner that one time Banner asked him to do surgery on him.

Thompson didn't follow that. But having gotten to know Sterns a little better, she understands what Mordo means.

Mordo smiles, and starts to leave. Thompson runs after him, and complains that she has a bad hunch about Jones. It could be nothing, but... She might not be weaponizable.

Mordo slows, and turns. He looks at her. His brows are arched. He asks her to elaborate.

Thompson stammers. She's too embarrassed to admit what her hunch is. She remembers having been spooked, somewhat, in the warehouse on the docks when she commanded her to do something, and she didn't do it. Alas, Thompson brushes this under a rug-or tries to, at least-and says that Jones has a prolonged history of being told what to do, and that she might not be as gullible as she has to be to fall for someone with mind control powers anymore.

Mordo chuckles, and tells Thompson that she doesn't have enough faith in herself. Her father didn't even like himself, and he could've ruled New York. Mordo reminds her that she's Kevin Thompson's daughter, and that hence, he expects better from such a glorious bastardess. With that, he starts to leave.

But he stops, one more time, and reveals that she won't be guarding the captives alone, while and and the rest of the team are hunting sorcerers. He smiles, elongates his staff, and taps it on the floor, in a nice rhythm.

Farther away, a man springs into view. He does aesthetic handsprings, and does them all the way to where Mordo and Thompson are talking. He's bald, and looks tough. And Thompson has to admit he's the stock of a stud.

"Ms. Thompson," Mordo introduces them, "meet Georges Batroc. He's graciously agreed to trade shifts with you on guard duty." He bats his brows. "While Sterns might not have a way with women, Batroc does."

Thompson stares, as if confused. Mordo explains that he's promised Batroc replicas of his boots in exchange for his help.

Thompson nods, and admits that she can see why he'd want any. She tries to shake hands with Batroc-but he kisses hers as she reaches out to do so.

"Bonjour, my lady," he says, in his signature French-Algerian accent. "I look forward to working with your," he looks her up and down, "VERY regal poorpelnesse!"

"Good," Thompson says, sarcastically. "Go back to honing your leaping-or whatever it is you do there."

"Leaping is a very complimentary connotation," he admits, "but in France, we call it savate. Not that I would know; I am Algerian!" With that, he obeys Thompson's command, and uses the breadth of the room to practice his savate. And it is a big room; Thompson almost doesn't understand why Mordo has to go all the way to Nepal to practice his bojutsu.

Mordo smiles, and reminds Thompson that at least Batroc always does what he's told whenever Thompson tells him too. She shouldn't expect any less from Jones. Jones is just another lab rat. And if Mordo didn't have faith in Thompson, she'd still be exactly where she was when he first contacted her: a registered sex offender in Toronto.

Thompson sighs, and she and Mordo return to their duties. At this point, though, she'd give anything to avoid addressing Jones with her power...

The next morning, she rises. She yawns, and sleepily lumbers across her quarters in a deep purple robe.

There's a note on the pocket universe's elevated panel that serves as a coffee table in the common room. Thompson reads it. It seems the team has left to go kill another sorcerer without her. But that's just as well; since yesterday, she wouldn't have expected an invitation.

Mordo left another note. She reads it.

WEAPONIZE THE CAPTIVES. (JONES, TOO!)

Thompson sighs, and dishes the note. She'd put on a mask for this...if only she thought she could do it without looking weak to the captives.

Batroc's still on duty. He's doing tricks, to entertain the captives. Wing seems amused. Knight only shakes her head. She tries a weapon in her arm again. It still doesn't work.

"Hey Algeria," Walker mutters. "My Innocent triplet wants to know if you can sing the Malian blues!"

"I thought you said you were a _Sokovian_ War vet," Jones mutters.

Walker shrugs. "Can't a girl be a little exotic...even if she is an Army vet?"

Thompson arrives. Jones rolls her eyes. She calls Batroc off, and relieves him. Batroc skips off to his berth.

Thompson lumbers up to Jones's cell. They stare at one another. Wing watches. Knight turns off the accessories on her arm, and watches. Walker peers, and watches. Why Jones?

"Mordo has commanded that I use my power," Thompson confesses, "to subdue and weaponize you in the wizard-hunt. It's a big responsibility."

Jones grins. "You're not a big girl, I admit. But I believe in you. Your father was a raping mind-controlling son of a bitch who killed a little girl and my neighbor Reuben, just to name a few."

Thompson sighs. "I didn't choose my father. But then, you wouldn't know. I heard that your mother was a terrorist, and yet rather than be the hero and kill her, you tried to codepend her, and run off to Canada with her."

"Mexico, actually," Jones corrects her. "She was a woman with problems. And I was going to help fix her. But then my ex-BFF comes along and kills her with her newly-acquired abominations of superpowers-given to her by a group of people she once tried to rat out, to the news, as kidnappers and murderers."

Walker listens. She doesn't follow much of it, but she knows that Jones often compares her to her ex-BFF.

Thompson smiles sadly. "This feels more and more like a risk," she admits. And she sighs. "But in the grand scheme of things, I suppose there's only one way to find this out for sure."

With her foot, Thompson scoots a glowing cube out of the way. Jones's cell vanishes. Around them, the other captives gape. They watch, in anticipation.

Jones is confused. She demands to know what's going on.

"Bow to me," Thompson commands her.

Jones narrows her eyes. Her former captor's stare is unwavering.

"Bow to me," Thompson repeats, "or attack me. But not neither."

Jones isn't sure about this. Nonetheless, she punches Thompson in the face. She flies across the room, and crashes into the wall. She breaks her arm.

The other captives stare. Jones's fist is hurting...but she's not regretting what she's done.

Batroc returns. He leaps into the room, and stands in a stance before Jones.

Jones scoffs. "Really?! Are we going to do this now? Couldn't you just..."

Batroc tries to punch her. Jones blocks it, and punches him in the face. He curses in French. Jones marches up behind him, and kicks him in the ass. She marches up to him from behind. The fight is on.

Batroc sweeps his own leg, and knocks Jones down. He leaps atop her, and pins her. He punches her in the nose. He rubs his groin against her abs, a little...

Jones flips him over. She stands, and stomps on his groin. He puts her in a headlock, via his legs, and flips her over. Jones's face is in his balls. She bites them. In his pain, she crawls away, and kicks him again.

Helplessly, and from afar, the other captives watch. They wonder if Jones has forgotten about them.

Jones hunts for Batroc, among rows of seemingly crystal columns. (Jones has got no idea what they're really made of; this is a pocket universe.) She calls for him. She swears she won't try to escape until she can rest assured that his Algerian ass won't try to stop them on the way out.

Batroc reminds her that she doesn't know the way out. And he doubts that Knight's arm is programmed to escape from pocket universes.

Batroc waits. Jones stalks around. She's slow. Batroc coils, and leaps.

Jones spins. Batroc lands on her. She lands into the side of a column. She leaves a rocky dent.

She throws him off, and charges him. With his agility, he evades her. He lures her into a clever path. Jones doesn't hear the creaking noises behind her...

The pillar falls over. Batroc caresses her hair. She punches him, and kicks him away. She doesn't realize she's cornered until it's too late.

The column falls. Jones gets trapped under it. It's heavy. So heavy, alas, that Jones can't seem to free herself.

"Aha," Batroc laughs, in his French-Algerian accent. "I am victorious!"

He rushes in, and stands in a stance next to her. She's helpless to defend herself. He prepares his arms for a lethal blow. He draws back his chop, and locks his gaze on her jugular...

"STOP!"

Batroc stops. Jones lies under the fallen column, pinned, waiting for what's about to happen next...


	14. Chapter 14

This was once Tonsberg, Norway. Now, it's New Asgard. The Aesir of the former Asgard have colonized it. Their numbers are few, and their settlement is small...but naturally, they're all better off here than they would be on that pile of meteors that now sits adrift in the middle of space, where a great society of long-lived folk once lived and thrived...

There's a new fortress. The archaic towers and cannon have been replaced with Asgardian tech.

There's a new cathedral. All the statues are of great Aesir/Vanir heroes/heroines.

There's a spaceport. The Bifrost will be rebuilt there...as soon as someone figures out how.

There's a new wharf. This is where the new locals moor their skiff hovercraft.

The fjord can still be seen from the fortress. And as far as the new locals are concerned-as well as most humans who'd witness it-the fjord looks SO much better than it did back when mere humans lived in Tonsberg.

Much Aesir flora and fauna have been introduced into the nature preserves. Some days, it seems like the plants and animals there develop even slower than the new construction in the city.

In the past few years, they've barely had time to rebuild. Alas, they have erected a few statues: one of Odin, their greatest king; one of Heimdall, their longtime gatekeeper, and later co-savior; and one of Groot, a taciturn tree-like humanoid, who bravely gave his life in the service of Thor, their incumbent king.

Miek, a short insectoid cyborg of Sakaar, and ex-gladiator, calmly sits on the front gate of New Asgard on Osteroya. He's honing his prosthetics, while waiting for new visitors to screen. There's one visitor he's always prepared to hide from if he comes along. One time this visitor-a certain anthropomorphic raccoon-made off with one of his prosthetics.

The new locals have been without their new king ever since they've gotten here. And for that reason, a regent, hand-picked by Thor himself, has been leading them in his stead. Her name is Brunnhilde. And she sure loves the ale here.

Or, rather, she sure DRINKS the ale here. Whether she LIKES it or not is... She sure doesn't seem to inspect what she gulps. But then, all the grain in that beer is going to make her more fertile, isn't it?

She gulps a cold lager, and interviews a new human recruit for the Einherjar. He seems like an odd candidate, since he's not Aesir. Alas, the Einherjar are short-staffed, and need all the help that comes to them. Besides, this one looks like he'd be MORE than a heavy investment...

Brunnhilde puts her beer down, and stares at the candidate. "If another offers thee a superior duty elsewhere," she asks him, "how eager would thee be to chase it, and thus forsake the post I thus offer thee?"

The candidate is Frank Castle. Castle was in Amsterdam, and heard that the Einherjar in New Asgard were hiring; thought he'd try his luck.

Castle chuckles. "Well, let's just say that if their business ever becomes yours, I'll blow them to Old Asgard-wherever the fuck that is in space-with a very generous amount of grenades and IAR ammo."

Brunnhilde nods...slowly. "Thou IS aware...that the Einherjar seeks committed warriors?"

"Once I make an enemy, I never stop shooting bullets into him until he's dead. It's messy, and sometimes it hurts...but it keeps innocent families like my late one safe, and that's all that matters to me."

Korg, a Kronan ex-gladiator, interrupts them, carrying a laser rifle over his shoulder. Brunnhilde stands, bows, and bids the former Lieutenant Castle goodbye. Castle leaves. Korg gives the Aesir's regent the latest security report.

Korg's sad to report that Thor still isn't back from upstate New York. It seems that Thanos will take more work to beat than he or Rocket Raccoon possibly could've foresaw.

Brunnhile sighs, and thanks Korg. Korg takes back up his rifle, and returns to his duties.

She stands on a tower in the new fortress. She stares up at the sky. It looks like there are dark clouds in the distance... But she's just about done believing that they're her new lover, waving Stormbreaker and shouting praises to a glorious victory over Thanos...

Above her, behind her, and beyond the ozone, a new phenomenon enters Midgard's atmosphere. It loses altitude. It falls beneath the ozone, and beneath the clouds-but not by much. It's red-orange. It's got wings. It looks like a dragon.

It makes a shadow as it flies over the new fortress. Brunnhilde notices, and looks up. She'd seen How to Train Your Dragon since getting here...except, she thought that was just fiction. And she sure doesn't recognize the creature from the Aesir book of zoology...

She flips through all of the zoology books in the library, of course. She can't find the creature anywhere. Alas, she can't afford to let her subjects know about this. She wouldn't want them to think that their regent is crazier than she acts...

It's clear that Midgard has a trespasser. She might just have to take a leave of absence from New Asgard just to check this out...

This is Central Park. Traffic in it is slow. It's barely sunrise. No one's here yet.

There's a raised platform, with steps leading up to it. It's bare...except for a lone street lamp.

A portal opens. Mordo's team files out, and assembles on the platform. Mordo waves his hand, and the portal disappears. Here they stand, Mordo's Illuminati, in a perfect formation: Owl, Murakami, Leader, Mordo, Steel Serpent, and Black Ant.

From the street, a photographer sees them. He gapes, takes cover, and snaps photos.

"Wong must die," Mordo declares. "We will find him...and we will kill him, like I did Pangborn!"

The team nods. Black Ant shows off his old classic Hydra salute.

"But first," Mordo recalls, "we must remove those who defend them. SERPENT! ANT! Find the herbalist...and do what you must to get past her."

Black Ant shrinks himself, and leaps into Steel Serpent's robes. Steel Serpent scurries off.

"OWL! HAND!" Mordo gets their attention. "Go settle your long-awaited score with the Devil of Hell's Kitchen. Jones is our captive! She can't save him now."

Murakami takes off. Owl climbs the lamppost, jumps off, and glides out of Central Park. Sterns seems amused at with how much ease Owl climbed the lamppost. It's almost as if he were a bonobo...

"Leader," Mordo points a furious finger at Sterns, "SMASH."

Sterns stares at Mordo, as if confused. "Smash?!"

"Oh," Mordo scowls. "Do...whatever it is that you do that the Hulk doesn't! Turn green! Become an egghead! However the hell it works for you, just. SUMMON THE WIZARDKILLER!"

"Okay!" Sterns starts to, but hesitates. "Uh, Master Mordo? Wouldn't it be more stylish if you said something like 'summon the kraken,' like on Clash of the Titans?"

"STERNS!"

"Right." Sterns turns green, and his bald head expands into the shape of an egg.

Via telekinesis, Leader summons Wizardkiller. The legless dragon lands near him and Mordo. Leader levitates himself, and rests himself atop Wizardkiller's back. He hasn't had a chance to improvise a saddle.

Nearby, the photographer is in awe and fear. He's so petrified, he's forgotten to keep taking photos.

"Alright," Mordo beams evilly. "Let's go find that Ghost Rider, before he dares open another portal to another dimension-or worse, our hideout!"

Leader nods, whips his arm, and clenches his fist. In doing so, he levitates the camera from the photographer's hands, controls the film like a snake slithering, lassos the photographer's throat with it, and levitates the camera more, hanging its owner.

Wizardkiller spreads his wings, and takes off, obeying Leader's telepathic commands. Behind them, Mordo leaps on after them, like a human kangaroo, with the Vaulting Boots of Valtorr.

The Defenders will defend, of course. But will they prevail?


	15. Chapter 15

This is the Chinese botanical garden. Rand Enterprises finances much of it. And for the most part, he's in good company. A certain herbalist plans to use this in her epic defensive of two magi she barely knows.

Davos ventures out into the leaves. They're as high as his waist. He looks around. Most of the garden's visitors have left. Perfect. They won't want to be around for what follows.

Carson's in his ear. He tells Davos he's going to get a bug's eye view of the place. He'll contact him if he sees the herbalist. With that, he leaps out of Davos's ear, lands on a flying black ant in mid-fall, and commences reconnaissance.

He gets far from Davos. And that's not the only thing he gets far from...

The garden sings to him. Its shapes are distorted. Carson's used to this; size control has played tricks on his subconscious before. He ventures on.

The sunset is pink. So are many plants in the garden. He flies past many flowers. They're big and red. They look like they host a LOT of seed. They smell like their nectar is so sweet...

The ant leaves him on the ground, and flies away. He doesn't even react.

Thunder causes an intense earthquake. The first time, he dismisses it. The second time, he falls over. He looks up.

He sees...Giganta. She towers over him like a colossal horror movie monster. He can see up her skirt. He can't tell if that look on her face is... He's not looking at her face. There are just SO many parts of her he can see better from down here.

He knows not, and cares not, how she sees him. But she bends over, and picks him up with her humongous fingers...

Outside, this is all just a hallucination. In reality, Johnson has set a trap for Carson. And he's fallen into it. And she's seen it all.

She picks up his small body by his leg. She chuckles, as she marvels at how small he is. He drops him in a bag full of herbs, seals it, and leaves the bag in her purse. One down; one to go...that she knows of.

Not far off, Davos stalks through the flora. His fists are as dim as dark. They won't be for long. But then, it seems that if the target is a mere herbalist, he won't be needing as much of the Serpent's Sting as he anticipates...

The pink sunset streams through the sky. A bug flies in Davos's eyes. He rubs them. It feels so good for him to rub his eyes, that he forgets where he is or what he's doing...

He's on a beach in Singapore. The sunset is a very seductive pink. Yellow girls in white bikinis wander the beach. They've flat chests and small bodies. They make a path for him as he stumbles about. They giggle about him.

He THINKS it's about him. He's not sure...

Singapore's such a nice country. Why can't more be like it?

Yoshida Brothers music plays in the background. It's such a seductive evening. It's in moments like these Davos takes shame in being single. But then, it might actually be a better thing that he is...

It's such a nice night. There's only one person who could make it better...

And he sees her: Alfre Woodard in a swimsuit. In her sixties, and still smoking hot. She's a cougar if Davos never saw one. And as cougar bait, he is SO desperate to be hunted...

She narrows her eyes, and stalks in circles around him. She seems tempted...

Davos wonders why his family isn't here. He doesn't usually spend his vacations with them. He usually doesn't take a vacation at all. Something's wrong with all this...

She's right in front of him. She touches his shaved head. Her hand is so soft. It's as if she's not even there...

He stares down her chest, of course. He'd love to be Carson right now, if only he could go rappelling down her downblouse...

The beach is attacked by a terrorist. Davos barely sees him. Except, he's not your usual terrorist. He hops like a toad. He flicks his tongue, and eats one of the beach girls. The beach girls scream and run. He leaps around in the background. Davos is lost in this moment with Alfre Woodard...

Davos is shocked that terrorist didn't bring along the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Oh well; he'd have a devil of a time snatching Alfre away from him...

Toynbee lands just behind Alfre. Davos can see him...but doesn't react. He's in love with Alfre. Toynbee seizes the opportunity, and flicks his tongue towards Alfre's thick ass...

The vision disappears. Instead, Davos sees Batroc strike a little black girl, and knock her unconscious. She falls down between them. She must be the herbalist Davos and Carson were sent to take down.

Davos glares down at her, with a disgusted face. "I can't believe I thought you were Alfre Woodard." He brushes himself off. "I'd hate to think you're her daughter." He acknowledges Batroc. "Don't you have captives to guard?"

"The captives are no more," Batroc says, in his French-Algerian accent. "They have been re-tasked."

"Re-tasked? For what?"


	16. Chapter 16

This is Hell's Kitchen. As of yet, there are at least two villains lurking locally, in sinister search of its Devil.

Murakami prowls an alley. He's armed with both his tonfas. He's got nothing to fear; he's fought Daredevil before. In fact, Owl wouldn't have lived to fight another day if Murakami hadn't saved him, and broadsided Daredevil, when he did.

Owlsley glides up behind him, and lands on his feet next to him. They walk next to one another down the alley for a while. The streets are dimly lit. The alleys are barely lit at all.

Owlsley tells Murakami that he'll get a bird's eye view of the place. If he sees Daredevil, or anyone of consequence, he'll let Murakami know. With that, he finds a pole, climbs it, and glides out of the alley. Murakami's gotten annoyed by Owlsley's abilities since meeting him.

He wonders if Wilson Fisk was like this when his predecessor, Nobu, worked with him. Or rather yet, if Owlsley's father was just as disrespecting of reality.

But then, Murakami shouldn't be quick to judge based on that. He's pretty sure that if he ever told anyone that he's an evil ninja who can come back from the dead every time he's killed as long as they don't do it by cutting off his head, or decapitating him otherwise, they'd think he's just as crazy as he personally thinks Owlsley is for not relying on the more...conventional means of secret warfare.

Conventional means of unconventional warfare... Seems like that would get a lot of laughs in an ROTC classroom...

He thanks evil he won't be fighting Luke Cage. The Power Man gave him MORE than a lot of trouble both before and shortly after Sowande, Reid, and Bakuto were slain.

He climbs a building, and begins to seek Daredevil out on the rooftops. Just a hunch; as much as he knows about Daredevil, he still doesn't know for a fact where his usual hunting grounds are-other than wherever there's crime. Except this time that's not going to help Murakami. He doesn't want his next fight with Daredevil to draw too much attention from the Yakuza.

Years after Nobu's death, he's still learning now to fill his shoes. And they're still a LOT bigger than Nobu made them look. But of course, Murakami wouldn't expect the Yakuza to think about this before offering him a job. Not that they possibly could; once you've been a finger of the Hand, it's impossible to settle for a cheaper job.

The Foot Clan might be looking for a new toe in the TMNT universe. If only he could get Mordo to send him there...

He hears a noise. He turns, and raises his guard. It fades.

He hears another guard. He turns again. It fades too.

He hears another. He turns yet again. It fades.

Murakami smells burned rubber. He creeps in its direction...

He stops. Something's hit him. Perhaps a way to defeat Daredevil, or... That's SO physical...

He falls over. Murdock stands over his fallen body, winds up the cable in his club, and puts the two pieces of the club back together.

"Ah, Murakami," he croons, playing footsie with his victim's unconscious body, for he can't see what he's done. "How haven't I missed you."

Moments pass.

"At least now I know I'm not the only one who survived. If you were awake, I'd ask if you've seen Elektra."

Murdock hears a soft noise. It sounds like a human gliding. It's gaining on him. In a flash, he takes his club apart, and throws one end at what he hears.

Owlsley catches it. Murdock loops the cable around himself, and hitches a ride on the Owl.

Owlsley glides through an alley. Murdock sings like a pendulum. He swings in loops, and wraps the cable around Owlsley's waist like a spool. Owlsley's wingsuit is compressed, and he and Murdock start falling.

They land inside an attic. Murdock's got Owlsley pinned.

"No ninjas here to save you this time," Murdock whispers.

Owlsley puts Murdock in a leg-lock, and seizes the opportunity to free himself of the coils of Murdock's club-cable. Murdock frees himself, and gets up. Owlsley does the same. He stands between Murdock and his club.

"You killed my father," Owlsley whispered.

"You said that the last time we fought," Murdock reminded him. "It didn't make sense then; and it doesn't know."

"Allow me to elaborate, then." With that, the fight is on.

They fall through the floor, and end up in a boxing ring. It's at night. There's no one working. And it's the perfect place for Matt Murdock to go out in a blaze of glory: in the same place his father would've if not for a cold-footed killer who just couldn't execute a backstabbing winner of a fixed prizefight in front of a live-or cheering, for that matter-audience.

This probably isn't the same ring where Jack Murdock beat Carl Creel in the fight that earned Murdock's father the death penalty from his last employer. But that's not really a priority, for Owlsley is going to kill Matt Murdock if the latter doesn't fight better.

Owlsley's full of rage. Every opportunity he can, he climbs atop a ring post, leaps, throws Murdock a curveball with himself, and hits him in the head. He claws at Murdock. He phases through him like a ghost. He screams really loud into Murdock's ears-and hits him in the head again. He never knew his father, but he knows in his heart-if not his mind-that he's about to do Leland Owlsley proud.

"I don't know who your father is," Murdock insists. "I don't know who you are!"

"Stop being such a squeaking rat!" Owlsley perches atop the post again. "I am the Owl! My better cock is dead-and my worst cock is about to impale itself, through, the worst, of YOU!"

Owlsley glides again. Murdock kicks him in the face.

From somewhere far and above, Typhoid Mary witnesses the fight. She smirks, and has got an M4 carbine, with a silencer, at the ready.

Her eyes glow violet...

Daredevil gouges Owlsley with his horns. He smashes him with his armor. He hears Owlsley coming, dodges him, and strikes him hard. He feels Owlsley's vibrations, and charges him.

Owlsley's getting tired. Revenge has made him too weary too fast. Daredevil's been nothing but patient since the beginning. Sneaking up on Murakami was a little uneasy for him, but...he sure got over it fast.

Murdock's club falls through the hole in the ceiling. He catches it, and uses the cable to tie Owlsley up. By now, Owlsley's too tired to resist. At long last, Daredevil, the blind Defender, is victorious.

He stands above Owlsley's tied-up body, and kicks him. He demands to know who Owl's father is, and who told him that Daredevil killed him.

From her nest, Walker shoots. The projectile pierces Daredevil's armor, and drugs him. Daredevil tires, and falls over, next to Owlsley. He'll be out for a long time.

Owlsley waits-half-relieved, and half-scared. He looks around, not imagining, or knowing, what happened.

Someone comes in. He hears their footsteps. They climb into the ring. They're wearing camouflage coveralls.

She stands over Murdock's body. She's wearing a mask over her mouth and nose. She kicks him over, and wanders over to Owlsley. She unties him, and takes off her mask.

Owlsley's confused. "Didn't we have you in a cage?"

The violet light coming from Walker's eyes is bright. Owlsley has a hunch that this is Thompson's doing.

"Was in a cage," Walker confessed. "But since then, I've gotten a new mission...as have we all."

"We?' You mean Thompson weaponized all of you?"

Walker stares at him, with eerie violet-lit eyes. "Do I look like a peacemonger to you?"


	17. Chapter 17

Reyes speeds down a highway in his Charger. He must lead Mordo and his Illuminati as far away from Dr. Palmer's home as he can...or, as they'll go.

Reyes smiles, and listens to Shakira's "Suerte" on the Charger radio. It's a nice day for a drive. Alas, he expects it to get cloudy at any moment. Fortunately, he has a plan for how to get through it.

His music is shut off by an incoming call. Reyes glances at the name on the display screen. There's no name. Just an arrowhead.

Reyes sighs, and takes the call. He tells the girl who's called him that he's sorry he missed their date. But a couple of people got attacked in the Big Apple, and now some people want him to protect them. And as much as he'd love to make up for this, he's got no idea how long this is going to take.

The girl's name is Kate Bishop. She's a SHIELD recruit.

She tells him not to feel bad. It was an act of desperation, after all, to try to see each other on such short notice when neither one of them has a lot of personal time to spend in New York. But then, that's probably why she wanted to see him here so much. Reyes grins, and admits the feeling's mutual.

Bishop talks about how tense it was, posing as her teacher while the latter was under house arrest for helping Captain America in Leipzig. They'd take turns posing as the other while the other went out and fought crime; him with a pair of katanas, and her with...

Reyes starts out as listening. But he sees something in the rearview mirror. It looks familiar. But it sure as hell doesn't look friendly.

He interrupts Bishop, and tells her that as much as he'd hate to cut this conversation short, something's come up, and he's got to go. With that, he hangs up, puts the cruise control on 200 clicks, switches the inter-reality teleporter to shuffle, and plays Havana Brown's "Warrior" on the radio.

Great balls of fire land beside, behind, and beside him. The Wizardkiller-and Mordo-have come back for round two. And it seems that Wizardkiller has a new rider-this one wears no robe, and has an unusually large green head. Reyes would be relieved...if he could rest assured that this rider couldn't control his mind any better than Purple Rider.

Mordo's getting ambitious. He leaps onto Wizardkiller's tail, leaps past Leader's mount, and perches atop Wizardkiller's head. He uses the staff to balance himself. All around, most cars pull over, once they realize what's coming through.

Mordo's got Ghost Rider within his clutches. He grins, reaches out his hands, and opens a portal to another reality. They're going over the Brooklyn Bridge. The portal opens smack dab in the middle of it.

Reyes tries to swerve to avoid the portal, but can't. He speeds through, and Wizardkiller follows him in-with Mordo and Leader still on his back.

They're in the sky of the Harry Potter universe. And Reyes's Charger is falling. It falls past a flying Ford Anglia. Reyes tries to see if anyone's at the wheel of it...but can't.

Aloft, Wizardkiller levels out. Mordo smiles, while perched atop Wizardkiller's head; with luck, he's won.

The Charger falls. Reyes can see the Scottish countryside below. And there's a railroad bridge. He's falling right towards it.

And it's not the only thing. The locomotive of the Hogwarts Express is charging up the tracks. And it's doing so pretty fast. Reyes is falling right towards the car in the train's middle.

There are children inside. This makes Reyes think about his disabled kid brother...

Fortunately, the inter-reality teleporter on his Charger shoots two plasmoids from its headlights. They fly into the steam cloud created by the locomotive, and open another portal. Reyes falls through it, and is saved. Behind him, the portal stays open.

Aloft, Leader sees the portal, and what goes through it. Mordo's still rejoicing. Mordo nearly falls off his mount when the dragon dives, and speeds through the portal before it closes. Mordo swears at Leader, demanding a little warning next time.

This is the Resident Evil universe. Reyes is speeding safely down a highway in Raccoon City. Alas, he's safe as long as he keeps the Charger's cruise control where it is. Around him, zombies are on the offensive-as are many horror movie monsters that might as well be endemic to the Resident Evil universe.

Reyes inadvertently gives Ada Wong and Claire Redfield a lot of help, running over droves of zombies with his car, as they plague the highway. He dreads, of course, a potential instance where the zombies scrum, and pile up to such an extent that not even his Charger at 200 clicks can mow over them.

As the zombies get hit, they spill blood all over the front of the Charger. Reyes sighs, and turns on the wipers. More keep coming. Reyes keeps the wipers on.

Nearby, Claire Redfield's fighting zombies in the buff. She stops when she hears the Charger roar through.

Just as nearby, but in the opposite direction, Ada Wong's fighting zombies while wearing a revealing red dress. She stops when she hears the Charger.

Reyes is ready. He climbs atop the Charger, with a metal chain in hand. Wizardkiller's gaining on him. In the skies over Raccoon City, he's in the company of many scary-looking airborne monsters, bastardized and lost control of by the Umbrella Corporation. All around, it's late facilities clutter the city's ruins. Reyes sure wishes one of them would notice Wizardkiller.

Wizardkiller narrows his eyes, and heats up his mouth while inhaling. Reyes becomes Ghost Rider, embues his chain, and begins swinging it around like a lasso.

From out of nowhere, the buff Redfield broadsides Reyes. She mounts him, and punches him. As much as Reyes enjoys being pounced on by a naked and gorgeous zombie slayer, this is hardly the best time. Nearby, a dragon's about to roast them both alive.

Alas, Reyes worries in vain. Ada Wong flies in from out of nowhere, broadsides Mordo, and knocks him off Wizardkiller's head. Behind Wizardkiller, Mordo lands on the highway. Zombies attack him from all around. Mordo takes up his staff, and bravely defends himself. With his boots, he hops away to relatively zombie-free zones when he can.

On the dragon's head, Wong takes up a pair of submachine guns, and empties their mags into Wizardkiller's cranium. But the Wizardkiller's armor is tough...and he's not a zombie.

It's a tough call for Reyes to make, but he throws Redfield off him. He'd sure hate for her to get infected by zombies because of him...but he also remembers that neither Wong nor Clea would be pleased with him if he let them die because of his sexual feelings for a beautiful zombie hunter in the buff.

Why wasn't Ali Larter ever in the buff in any of the movies? She would've looked more than great...

Ah, but then the spotlight would've been drawn away from Alice. And Milla Jovovich, at least, would NOT have been pleased with that...

With his mind, Leader levitates Wong's submachine guns-with Wong still holding them. He suspends her over his egg-shaped head, and stares up Wong's skirt. Wong thrashes, of course. Leader only smiles; he likes when they thrash AND when he can see up their skirts...

"Leader," Wong shouts, while fighting zombies, "the Ghost Rider! Don't let him get away!"

Leader remembers...and throws Wong back to the zombies. Mordo leaps ahead, and opens another portal for Reyes to drive through. And this time, Reyes does so by accident. He's not at the controls anymore.

Now they're on a highway in the Fast and Furious universe. They're surrounded by semi-trucks. The Charger appears to drive itself, as it weaves its way through the labyrinth of semis. Unclear as to where this is in the Fast and Furious universe, but it seems this is the bridge that connects the Florida peninsula to the Keys.

Atop a semi's container, Letty Ortiz and Cipher are having a cat fight. Cipher is outgunned. She can dodge Ortiz well enough, but can't do so indefinitely. Ortiz has got a hilarious advantage...

The Charger speeds by. Wizardkiller follows it. Reyes is the Ghost Rider, and is swinging his lit-up chain around like a lasso. Wizardkiller shoots humongous plasmoids from his mouth, missing the Charger, and the Ghost Rider, every time. The dragon has no legs. A green man with an egg-shaped head is riding the legless dragon, chasing the Charger down a highway infested with semis.

Hence, Ortiz and Cipher stop to observe the car chase as it passes. For a brief moment, Cipher is spared Ortiz's inevitable ax. They keep watching the chase, long after it passes the semi they're on. Around them, some of the semis fly off the highway, and into the Atlantic Ocean, when they see the huge dragon, mounted by a little green egghead, chasing the small Charger with a flaming skeleton swinging a fiery chain on its roof panel.

Up front, Reyes's headlights shoot inter-reality plasmoids again. These's portal takes him to the Ghost in the Shell universe. Wizardkiller makes it through the portal, of course. Leader is far from giving up...and so is Ghost Rider.

Inside the cab, Reyes's music switches itself to EXID's "Up and Down." It's not the same as the Ghost in the Shell theme music...but it's more upbeat, which is what the music for all car chase scenes should be, right?

They're on an elevated highway in Japan. They're surrounded by futuristic cars. At any moment, Reyes expects to be attacked by spider-tanks. So he must now make his move, and do it fast.

They pass a pair of cop cars. Reyes tenses up; he's afraid they're going to start chasing them. But they just sit there...and vanish from sight. Reyes chuckles, and wonders if this is really the Ghost in the Shell universe, or if he's still stuck in the Fast and Furious universe...

Reyes sighs, becomes the Ghost Rider, empowers the chain, and starts swinging it. Behind him, once again, the dragon heats up its breath...

Atop a tower that the highway's coming up on, Motoko Kusanagi stands tall, and balanced. She's in the buff-or rather, her shell's in the buff. Nonetheless, the Scarlett Johansson movie still merited an R rating. You'd expect truly superior superior religious groups to do a better job of overlooking things, and thinking outside the box, while watching these things...

Just like a fantasy, Kusanagi waits for the Charger to drive within range. Then, she falls forward...and turns as she falls...and ends up upside down while in freefall...and, she draws a pair of submachine guns...and she looks up (down to someone standing right side up) and sees where she needs to land. She spins into position, while still in midair, and lands behind Reyes.

She draws her submachine guns, and tells Reyes to drop the chain and put them up. Ghost Rider smiles, de-powers the chain, mistakes Kusanagi for Black Widow, and reminds her that she's supposed to be in upstate New York helping the Avengers beat Thanos. He also reminds her that she's a blonde, and that she usually wears a black suit while working. Not that he's complaining about this new look of hers; he might actually prefer it over the black suit with nano-stunners...

She orders him to stop the Charger. Too late; up front, the Charger's lights shoot two more plasmoids, and open another portal overhead.

Reyes has no choice. He becomes the Ghost Rider. Kusanagi opens fire. Ghost Rider makes the bullets intangible, and they fly right through him without hurting him. He waves his hand, and sends Kusanagi flying over the highway rail. At last, the Charger charges through the portal.

Now they're in the Arrowverse-Earth-1, to be more specific. This is a highway in Central City. Wizardkiller has made it through the portal-again. The chase continues.

On one side of the Charger, the Flash runs. On the other side, XS runs. They've come to investigate, of course. Leader, Wizardkiller, and Ghost Rider all seem to scare them.

Leader uses his mind control, and commands both speedsters to turn around and run away. They do.

Killer Frost shows up, generating and riding on a water slide of ice. She rides it beside the dragon, and tries to freeze his head. Wizardkiller only breathes on it, melting it as fast as it's generated. Killer Frost tires.

Leader uses his mind powers to command Killer Frost to transform back into Caitlin Snow. With that, her hair turns brown, her eyes darken, and she falls off her ice, and into the street. Jesse Quick saves her right before a car runs over her. Alas, Reyes and Leader are both back to square one.

A breach opens, and Elongated Man is deposited next to the highway. He stretches himself between two lampposts, and creates a motorcycle trap.

Ghost Rider senses it, and makes himself intangible. Elongated Man's torso passes right through him without tripping him. Wizardkiller, alas, isn't so lucky. His mouth gets stuck on Elongated Man's torso.

Elongated Man strains as Wizardkiller helplessly reaches the end of Elongated Man's slack. He and Leader are catapaulted backwards, and fly over the tallest buildings of the city.

With the threat incapacitated, Ghost Rider reverts back to Robbie Reyes. Now all Reyes has got to worry about now is getting back to Earth-199999, where Wong and Clea are-and not to mention is disabled kid brother.

Alas, a portal opens, and Mordo falls through it. He bounces off the highway, and creates yet another portal to inconvenience Ghost Rider. Reyes's Charger helplessly drives through it. Mordo hops through it, and chases the Charger.

This time, Reyes speeds across an open desert. Mordo hops after him, armed with his staff. Reyes sighs, and takes up his chain-again. This shouldn't be so hard, if it's just Mordo...

Alas, Mordo opens another portal in the sky. Leader and Wizardkiller fall through it, and resume the chase. This time it's on open ground. And this time there are no video game or comic book characters to inconvenience, or save, either of them.

And so, the Charger starts weaving back and forth while speeding across the desert plain. Wizardkiller shoots fire from his mouth. He misses every time-but he might get lucky. Reyes could try absorbing the fire, but that'd be a risk, and Ghost Rider might quit on him if the fire overpowers him...

The radio in the Charger seems to recognize where it is. It switches to Inna's "No Help," and plays the song during this part of the chase.

Mordo leaps, and lands back on Wizardkiller's tail. He hops past Leader's mount, and perches atop Wizardkiller's head. Now, at last, he's got the Ghost Rider in his sights. All he needs now is for Wizardkiller to make a lucky airstrike...


	18. Chapter 18

Just across the Brooklyn Bridge, a homeless war vet wanders the Big Apple. He's got a basket on his back full of clothes. He's got an MP3 player, and buds in his ears. He's listening to the long harmonica intro to Clint Black's "State of Mind."

As he wanders a long, he sips from a bottle of Diet Coke. Not that he needs it; civilian life has done little, if anything, to rob him of his military body.

The vet's name is Bobby Maverick. He may look homeless and helpless, but beneath that friendly and PTSD-ridden exterior, a raging beast slumbers within...

The main part of the song begins, on his MP3 player. Unbeknownst to him, and behind him, a Dodge Charger speeds out of a portal from behind him, gains on his six, and impends to run him over...

Wizardkiller slithers through another portal, and breathes fire at Reyes's bow. The Charger swerves to dodge the fire. Its starboard stern inadvertently broadsides Maverick. Maverick falls over...and the clothes in his basket are scattered all over the sidewalk.

Maverick scrambles to pick up all the clothes and stuff them back in the basket. Around him, the fight continues.

Reyes gets out of the Charger. Wizardkiller lands. So does Mordo. No more speed; it's time to settle this.

Reyes becomes the Ghost Rider, and swings his chain. Mordo leaps. Ghost Rider opens a portal, and sends Mordo falling through it. Now it's just him and the dragon.

He charges the dragon. It takes a defensive pose. Ghost Rider leaps atop his head. He lassos his neck with the chain.

Wizardkiller doesn't like that-or rather, Leader doesn't through Wizardkiller. He makes an angry reptilian noise, and spins in a circle.

Maverick has recollected all the clothes, and stuffed them back into the giant basket. But then Wizardkiller's tail broadsides him from behind, and the clothes scatter over the sidewalk again.

Ghost Rider, Wizardkiller, and Leader all vanish, as Ghost Rider attempts to return Wizardkiller to his own reality. With Mordo also in another dimension, all falls silent.

Maverick smiles, and recollects his clothes in peace.

But Mordo soon opens another mortal, and Wizardkiller slithers back through. Leader's missing.

A portal opens just above Maverick. He's finished recollecting the clothes again. Leader falls through the portal, and lands on top of him. The basket spills again.

Mordo comes back, and happily brushes his hands together. "All done," he grumbles, "at last. Let's get back to the rest of the team, Leader. With luck, the others have captured someone that we can interrogate regarding..."

Alas, there's a small problem. Without Leader to control him, Wizardkiller is wild again. He's staring right at Mordo, with his nose in Mordo's abs. His fangs are bared, he's drooling, and he's looking at Mordo like food.

"Leader," Mordo whispers. "Help here?"

Leader nods, and raises his arms towards the dragon. It closes its eyes, and slithers back, giving Mordo some room.

Mordo relaxes, and heaves a sigh of relief. "Thank you. Now let's..."

Maverick has finished recollecting the clothes again. Alas, Ghost Rider opens another portal, and falls atop him, causing him to spill the basket again.

Mordo spins, and glares. "Why can't you just stay gone?!"

Ghost Rider swings his chain. Mordo prolongs his staff. His boots are ready. Ghost Rider's flames are hot.

Over Newark, a red dragon from outer space flies. It's the same one Brunnhilde sighted over Tonsberg. It doesn't seem to regard much. The Statue of Liberty is looming over the bow horizon...

Mordo bares his teeth, and lunges at the Ghost Rider. Ghost Rider swings his chain, and lassos Mordo's feet. He tightens the loop, and swings Mordo around, like a ball and chain. Mordo loses his balance, and makes panicking noises.

Maverick's recollected everything in his basket again. Ghost Rider swings the chain-and Mordo inadvertently broadsides Maverick again, causing the clothes to spill again.

Maverick can't take it anymore. He closes his eyes as tightly as he can.

When he opens them, his irises are red. And they're glowing.

Leader sees Maverick transform. He telepathically tries to warn Mordo.

Too late. Mordo is still tied up in midair. Red Hulk grabs him, throws him on the sidewalk, jumps on him, and throws him into the bay nearby.

Ghost Rider has been robbed of his chain. He reverts back to Robbie Reyes.

Red Hulk, on the other hand, has just gotten warmed up. He stumbles through the scattered clothes all over the sidewalk, and takes an apparent interest in Reyes. Reyes trembles. Red Hulk pounds his fist into his hand. He's mad. Reyes can tell.

Reyes tries to reactivate the Ghost Rider. But for some mystery reason, the Ghost Rider is stubborn...

Red Hulk is broadsided, abruptly, by a waterfall of flame. Reyes leaps back, and falls over his own car.

The flame dies. Red Hulk still stands. He's furious. He spins towards the flame's source. Wizardkiller appears nervous. Atop his back, Leader does too.

Red Hulk roars, leaps, and lands atop Leader. Leader tries to improvise a shield to protect himself, but Red Hulk smashes through it. He knocks Leader off his mount, and the grappling match is on. Red Hulk pins Leader to the top of the rail, and starts punching him in the face multiple times.

Once again, Wizardkiller is out of control. Reyes hides behind his car, praying Wizardkiller won't pick up his scent. He whispers, begging Ghost Rider to come back out. He won't.

Wizardkiller smells something. His eyes turn towards the Charger. He creeps towards it. Reyes assumes an embryotic position, and whisper-prays for deliverance...

The bridge shakes. Reyes listens. That happened way too far away for it to have been Wizardkiller. Reyes opens his eyes. Wizardkiller has stopped. Reyes hears him lumber away.

The commotion, alas, has distracted Red Hulk too. Leader seizes the opportunity, manipulates the metal of the bridge guard, and tries to tie Red Hulk up in it. Red Hulk loses his temper, and rips himself free. He falls back to the street, and chases Leader.

The other dragon-the Vorm from outer space-has arrived. Wizardkiller has caught her scent. And she's caught his. She rolls over on her back, making himself available to him.

From behind his car, Reyes watches, as Wizardkiller massages the Vorm's abs with his nose. He's confused. He can tell they're not the same species. But even so, where did...

He gets hit in the back of the head with something metal. Neither he nor Ghost Rider see it coming, and both fall over next to the Charger's left front tire, unconscious.

Knight stands behind him. Her eyes shine violet light. She massages her prosthetic arm; she knocked Reyes out cold with it. She subtly, and deviously, throws Reyes into the back of his own car, and drives it away.

Nearby, Red Hulk and Leader are still fighting. Wizardkiller and the Vorm are still flirting. First opportunity, Wizardkiller swings his tail, and sends the fight somewhere where they won't rudely interrupt his courtship of the Vorm. In total seclusion at last, Vorm and K'un-Lun dragon can finally get intimate...

In the sky, Red Hulk and Leader fight. Neither can fly, but Leader can levitate via telekinesis. With this, he directs their fall-while fighting Rulk-into Chinatown. That's as good as he can do until he figures out a way to subdue Red Hulk.

He can't afford to make Rulk angrier. So with Rulk grappling with him, he levitates them both to the bay. But again, Rulk's trying to kill him. He telekinetically summons many materials, and holds his own against the overwhelmingly more powerful Red Hulk.

Red Hulk's got him pinned. He's punching Leader in the head repeatedly. It's not like Leader can't take it; his head is egg-shaped, and infected with (green) Hulk's blood. But again, Leader is super-SMART, not super-strong, which means if he doesn't get relief soon...

A halo of white flight flashes from behind Red Hulk. Red Hulk stops. Leader takes a moment to breathe. Red Hulk falls over, rolls over on his back, and lands next to Leader. Leader has been saved. He stands, and prepares to thank Mordo...

But it wasn't Mordo who saved him. It was Wing. Her fists are still glowing with white light. But as Red Hulk reverts back to Bobby Maverick, the white light in Wing's fists dim to nothing. Rulk has been overpowered. For the time being, everyone around Maverick is safe.

Wing's eyes are glowing with violet light, just like Knight's. Nearby, Leader reverts back to Samuel Sterns. Sterns screams when he sees her, because she looks scary. But Wing looks at him-with violet-lit eyes-and holds up her hand, signalling she means no harm.

"Wait," Sterns holds up his finger. "Didn't we..."

"Thompson commands me now," Wing explains. "I'm not here to hurt you, Dr. Sterns."

"Well thanks," Sterns says, smiling overjoyfully. He looks around. "What happened? Did we win?"

Mordo limps towards them. His boots and staff are still intact...but his body's sore in several places. He extends his hand towards Maverick, and puts a spell on him. Maverick won't become the Red Hulk when he wakes up.

"Your Sister's got Ghost Rider," Mordo tells Wing. "Thank you...for helping us deal with an unexpected," he looks down at Maverick's unconscious body, "hurdle."

Scary reptilian noises sear the sky. Mordo, Wing, and Sterns all look up. A lot of other people do too. Wizardkiller and the Vorm are flying away together; he's wrapped all around her like a snake/shawl.

"I'm not sure," Mordo mutters, "but we might have a problem."

Wing looks on, with her violet-lit eyes, confused.

"What kind," Sterns asks, "of problem?"

The Defenders have fallen, as has the Red Hulk. But with Wizardkiller and the Vorm roaming wild and free about the planet and Earth-199999, killing Wong and Clea might not be as easy for Mordo's Illuminati as they'd hope.


	19. Chapter 19

This is a mausoleum in New Asgard. It reveres Odin's memory-alas, there's no body in it, for Odin's body disintegrated when he died in this very place not too long ago. He was many centuries old. Most adult Aesir are.

It's late at night. There's no moon out. Korg has finished his patrol around Odin's mausoleum. He takes up his mace, and marches off, muttering exactly what's on his mind.

It's dark inside the mausoleum. And there IS a body in Odin's casket. It conjured itself inside after the mausoleum's construction was completed. Alas, the casket is sealed shut with many spells, and cannot be opened.

From the ceiling, a blue rod of light appears to spotlight the casket. Alas, as I said, there's no moon. And this is no night of a blue moon. Only a few native Norwegians who were evicted, due to the Aesir's need to colonize this place, would know that glow as the one the Space Stone emitted back when the Tesseract was kept safe here for so many centuries following the Jotunns' invasion of Midgard.

Behind the casket, someone in a black robe can be seen. And the blue light shuts itself off in a flash.

This is the doorway to the mausoleum. A robed figure appears in it. Is it the Grim Reaper? Is it a dementor from Harry Potter?

He takes off his hood and looks around. His head is a red skull...with sinister eyes an internal tissue expressing his sentience.

The Red Skull's been gone for a long time. And after over half a century of keeping the Soul Stone safe on Vormir, he is without purpose.

Lest Thanos gives up the Soul Stone and puts it back where he found it. Which he won't, of course...


	20. Chapter 20

In the pocket universe, Sterns and Owlsley take turns torturing the new captives. With glowing violet eyes, Walker joins them.

Alas, they can only torture Johnson and Murdock. They've agreed that torturing Reyes or Maverick wouldn't be wise. Reyes might escape, and Maverick might destroy the pocket dimension with everyone still inside it. For the time being, it's better that they both stay in stasis.

At some point, Mordo will probably expect Thompson to mind-control the captives like she's already done Wing, Knight, and Walker. Thompson would be looking forward to it...if she didn't have a broken arm, and if her power wasn't already spread to thin as it is.

Thompson has told Mordo that Jones is dead. She tried to control Jones, like all the others, but her time spent with Thompson's father, and opposing him, prevailed as much with her as it did with him.

Thompson's in a hospital, recovering. Or, at least, that's what she's told Mordo...

Both Typhoid Mary and Bloody Mary take turns torturing Johnson. Neither Owlsley nor Sterns have seen her do better.

Carson doesn't want to work with Thompson/Knight. He still thinks she's a Deathlok. So he's left. But he hasn't gone far. Batroc's with him. He doesn't trust Thompson...and can't help but suspect that there's a chance Thompson Jr isn't nearly as cold as her father was before her.

The other Illuminati members think him paranoid...as do a lot of the Defenders. Alas, as Mordo sees it, Thompson is reliable until proven treacherous...however long that may take...if it happens at all.

Sterns has fun psychically attacking Murdock. He takes the first shift. Owlsley still wants revenge. Therefore, Sterns always tortures Murdock for as long as he can.

With Daredevil in his clutches, Owlsley monologues. And at long last, Murdock understands Owlsley's motivation for revenge.

"I didn't kill your father," Murdock tells him. "It was a man named Wilson Fisk. He's in prison. I'm going to kill his wife if he ever escapes. Your revenge quest is a waste of time. I'd know; I've wasted a few."

"My father would've wanted you dead," Owlsley admits. "I must honor him."

Murdock grins. "I can understand that. I must honor mine too. The only difference between us is that one of us has to kill someone to do it."

Owlsley scoffs. "You're an abomination, Murdock. The world will be well-rid of you after I kill you. All I've got to do is wait for Mordo to give me the green light."

Murdock still can't believe that Wing and Knight joined Mordo...or that Jones is dead. But tough it out he must, and escape he soon must, or else those two sorcerers at Dr. Palmer's place won't defend themselves for long before Mordo kills them...with or without the lost Wizardkiller.

Owlsley approaches Walker. All three Walkers think he's cute. If only they didn't know he was crazy and evil. Not that Typhoid or Bloody Mary are judging...

He tells her, in confidence, that he owes her. He realizes that Murdock wasn't going to kill him, but... He almost didn't get his revenge. She's done a great service to the Owlsley family that Hell's Kitchen never did.

Walker chuckles, and admits that while she would suggest that he would've done the same thing for her...that's not entirely true. He would've thought she'd escaped, and that she was coming to attack him, if she hadn't knocked out Murdock when she did.

Owlsley smiles, and remarks that at least they're on good terms now. But he assures her that if they ever go on another mission together before all the multiverse's sorcerers are slain, she can rest assured that he has her back. He winks, and walks away. Walker turns her head, and stalks his ass-with her eyes-as he passes.

Walker can feel Innocent Mary creeping towards the wheelhouse of her mind. She closes her eyes, and tells Innocent to go back to her "room." All three of her know he's evil. But she reminds her other two triplets that if she was looking for a husband, she never would've joined the Army.

Owlsley is one seductive womanizer. This gives Walker an idea...

At night, Maverick slumbers in his cage. He snores. No one blames him...now. It's still hard to imagine how Red Hulk could be this far away from Thunderbolt Ross or Afghanistan...

Five people sneak in. They surround his cell. They open it. They gently pull Maverick out, and set him on a stretcher. They lift the stretcher, and sneak out. Someone comes back, and destroys the cage with a strange firearm, making it look like Maverick escaped.

Even with Maverick gone, the captives outnumber the captors three to two. But then, how could Carson have known that he'd leave such a fragile void if he refused to work with a Deathlok...who isn't really a Deathlok...who doesn't seem as biased against the name as he is against the original?

Sterns works in a lab. This pocket universe is very versatile. It accommodates for those who use it when they least expect it to. It's a miracle it hasn't yet allowed the captives to escape.

Walker takes Owlsley to the Chinese botanical garden. Here, the leaves are green. The water features sound nice. The nightjars call.

They sit on a bench. Walker's wearing a camouflage coat. It's not cold. You'd expect a night creature, like Owlsley, to notice such a thing.

They sit next to a water feature, and share some cheap wine. Walker's loaded Owlsley's shot glass with a surprise.

Their shot glasses clink together. They both drink.

Walker talks about how she can't wait for Mordo and the others to find Wizardkiller. It feels like a century since they left. She looks at Owlsley, and flaps her hair. She asks him what he plans on doing after he kills Murdock and avenges his father.

Owlsley shrugs. He doesn't seem very stumped. This bothers Walker, of course. Usually when people ask men on quests for revenge what they're going to do after they finish their quests, they fall dead silent, as they suddenly realize that life after revenge isn't as easy to anticipate as the quest for it.

Walker asks about Jones. She seems to like Owlsley a lot, and Walker asks him if he truly isn't seriously reconsidering making amends with her broken heart. She might not be an exact clone of Pamela Anderson-from twenty-five years ago-but she's a rare find. (Walker wouldn't actually say this about any other woman but herself, of course. She's just putting on a show for Owlsley. Innocent Mary would probably say this about another woman...but then, if only Innocent Mary knew Jones like Typhoid Mary thinks she does.)

Owlsley is fatiguing. He admits that Jones is great. He hiccups. But he didn't come here for a wife. If he wanted one of those (he hiccups again) he could've used his father's fortune to buy a better place in the tropics. He's been watching a lot of videos on YouTube that portray hot models in bikinis, and that the ones that sport the nicest legs and the flattest bellies all seem to be VERY happy residents of...

Walker throws a grenade as Owlsley stammers. It's explosion startles him. He does a spiral of backflips off the bench...and comes down a lot slower than he goes up. It's late; there's no one here to watch.

Walker takes off her coat. She's brought her M4. She loads it in a flash, aims it with a slow breath, and fires with a steady finger. Right in sync, Owlsley gets two pink darts stuck in both of his ass cheeks.

He hits the ground. Walker attends to him, aims her carbine again, and puts two more darts in both his chest muscles.

"Don't do this," Owlsley stammers, with bloodshot eyes. "Murdock will kill your father too."

"Sorry, cutie," Walker hisses. "But I lost the only one I had the day Uncle Sam told me he didn't want either of me anymore."

Owlsley passes out. With luck, he'll be out for a VERY long time.

Walker looks him over, and admires him. "You talked about babes with abs and legs. Funny; you strike me as a 'boobs and buns' kind of man. Sad; if you had either or, those darts wouldn't have taken half as long to knock you out."

Two people creep through the halls of the pocket universe. They're tempted to hold hands...but don't yet.

Sterns is still in his lab. The lights are dim. The walls and floor change color. Candles light themselves. They rest in heart-shaped floating trays on the surface of a filled basin of liquid. Sterns doesn't get it...but he barely reacts.

In an elevated corner, the singers from Fifth Harmony sing, in a capella, their own rendition of "Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby." They're all barely dressed, and stewing in a small basin of liquid.

"Wow, I," Sterns stammers, "I sure hope you aren't here to turn me into a toad!"

They stand, take the steps down one at a time, and surround Sterns. There's no escape.

There's someone else here, too. It's Lindsey Stirling. She's minimally clad, and armed...with a violin. This is her round table...and she's found her rival.

The fiddle's handle is a trumpet. This is about to get messy.

Sterns looks down at himself, and sees his attire has changed to an American Wild West outfit. He looks around. The setting has been changed to a small Western town. He looks around. To his right, there's a green man with an egg-shaped head. To his left, there's Delmar O'Donnell from O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Behind Lindsey Stirling, her company swaggers up. There's a Goth girl with black hair...who can't seem to lay off on the mascara, black nail polish, or the body piercings. A red snake curls on her shoulders. It's hooded, like a cobra.

And there's Cynthia Addai-Robinson, who's got several halters under her outfit. This story will prove-one way or another-whether Cynthia Addai-Robinson can dance.

She probably can't; I've never seen her do it. The characters she plays on TV shows have been way too serious...

George Nelson, from O Brother, Where Art Thou, rushes to the front of Sterns's rank. He's armed...with an electric guitar. He plays it loud. The sounds waves coming from it are intense.

Sterling and her girls are knocked down. Leader raises his fist, and rips the roof off the local bank.

In the background, "Roundtable Rival" plays. It's not a complete fantasy, after all, without the song that goes with the illusion.

Addai-Robinson flips over, and throws a pair of shuriken. She takes out Nelson's heel tendons.

"You're not withdrawing today," Addai-Robinson hisses, "George Nelson!"

Stirling leaps up, and blasts Sterns's rank with the trumpet on her fiddle. The sound waves are intense, coming from her fiddle.

Sterns gets hit by the sound. Near him, Leader, O'Donnell, and Nelson get turned into ghosts.

Stirling looks around. They're all in the jailhouse now. In front of her and her girls, Sterns stands in a cell, surrounded by the Soggy Bottom Boys. They pluck their instruments...and Sterns does a very convincing impersonation of Tim Blake Nelson while singing the first verse and chorus of "In the Jailhouse Now."

"Hit him again," the Goth girl whispers.

Behind Stirling and her rank, a tapestry falls. There are stacks of amplifiers behind it. Sterling smiles, and turns the trumpet on her fiddle towards Sterns. Sterns is in the jailhouse now; he's got nowhere to go-except awake, if only he were that bright.

It seems, interestingly, that Sterns has become dimmer than Leader, just as Banner is weaker than Hulk...

Stirling saws the fiddle. The sound waves are intense-and this time, they've got reinforcements.

Addai-Robinson looks around. They're back in the small town in the Wild West. Before them, Sterns is back in his cowboy suit. The local sheriff comes, and arrests him.

Addai-Robinson blinks her eyes. She's Johnson again. She's back in the pocket universe. The Goth girl is Murdock again. Lindsey Stirling is Reyes again. Sterns is nowhere to be found.

Reyes is still Ghost Rider, from having banished Sterns to another reality. Johnson screams when she sees him like that. Ghost Rider holds up a flaming bony finger, and transforms back into Reyes. Below, his chain is de-powered as well.

"Thank you, Ms. Johnson," Murdock says. "That's the best thing I've seen since I was a boy."

Reyes gapes. "You mean you can see Nightshade's hallucinations?!"

"I'm only blind for real, Mr. Reyes. My subconscious still works."

Johnson blushes black. She didn't know she could get the Devil of Hell's Kitchen to see. Nonetheless, Sterns is gone, and now the captives are free to escape. Johnson stumbles around, and recollects all the herbs she used to induce the Fifth Harmony/Lindsey Stirling/Soggy Bottom Boys hallucination.

"That chica plays one hot violin," Reyes admits, remembering the role he played in the hallucination. "Is she Charlie Daniels?"

Murdock snickers. Johnson sighs, and shakes her head.


	21. Chapter 21

This is a volcano in Japan. There's nothing special about it...except the reason why the local Japonic folk can't settle here. But there might be, as of recently. The Vorm, after all, won't settle in the Himalayas.

The sun barely shines out here. And the fog is temperamental.

Somewhere on the slope, a portal opens. Mordo, Murakami, and Davos step through it. Mordo closes the portal. They spread out, stretch, wiggle, and get used to the higher air pressure.

Davos already is...mostly. Alas, New York nearly made a glutton out of his lungs.

This is Murakami's homeland. But he can't go home yet...not until the Wizardkiller is slain, and his bones are made into the resurrection elixir that'll be required to renew the Hand.

The Wizardkiller is Mordo's main weapon against the multiverse's sorcerers. He needs it back. Davos knows more about the species than he does. And Murakami wants to be around in case they find the Wizardkiller dead. At least one of the three won't go home empty-handed. But then, if they're all villains, it's far more likely that they'll never go home at all.

Davos asks about the mind-controlled Daughters of the Dragon, and whether they should've brought them along. Mordo insists that he won't summon them until he's sure they've found Wizardkiller.

And so they separate, and search high and low for the beast. Davos will know the scent of him in rut if he smells it. And he will be, if the Vorm's still with him. He'll notify the rest of the team if he smells it.

All around, they search. They end up having to teleport to another volcano.

In the lowlands, there's hot volcanic soil. It's black. It's warm. And it's medical.

Two men are buried in it. Their heads are exposed. It's piled atop both of them. They lie next to one another, in sweet brotherhood.

One is Danny Rand. The other is Ward Meachum. Back in America, they are co-officers of Rand Enterprises. Here, Rand mentors Meachum in the arts of self-defense, and protects the little locals as they go along.

And they are little locals. Meachum has even gotten friendly with a few...

Rand's mound glows yellow as he's in it. It seems this soil makes his qi energy feel strong.

Meanwhile, this is Beerenberg. It's virtually on the other side of the planet. It's an active volcano...that hasn't erupted since my sister was born. And yet, there's been a lot of activity inside it recently...but not for the reason locals would think.

Brunnhilde has followed the Vorm here. And she partially followed it to New York. Alas, she had to change course when she found out it had run off to Beerenberg with another dragon-looking beast. Like an airship, she flies her skiff close to the volatile mountain's summit, and dismounts.

The Vorm and Wizardkiller are probably up in the crater, melting the ice. Even so, Brunnhilde creeps around with sure feet.

She misses her booze, of course. But the Vorm might be a threat to Midgard; and for that, she must stay out here until she can tell her boyfriend's subjects to rest easy.

Here and there, Brunnhilde hears some rocks fall. Whoever's causing them to fall is WAY too small to be a polar bear. A cub, maybe...if it was like polar bear cubs to wander off so far away from their mamas. And if it was, Brunnhilde would steer clear...but naturally, she's pretty sure that whoever is causing those rocks to fall is just as much a bear as she is a lemming.

A gyrfalcon, maybe, but... How far north do hawks live, anyway?

Up the path, she goes. It sounds like those noises are getting closer. Up ahead, the path forks-in her direction. She's got no idea what she's about to walk into...

They see each other. They leap back. Brunnhilde draws her sword. Her assailant draws a pair of long knives.

She's as youthful as Brunnhilde...if not as young. Brunnhilde's an Aesir, so she imagines she's older than everyone on Midgard... She keeps a recurve bow close to her, and has a quiver strapped to her back. They stare at each other for a long time before one makes the first move.

Brunnhilde asks her what she's doing out here. Her new company, whose name is Kate Bishop, says that she saw two dragons fly away from New York city, one looped around the other as it flew. She knows they landed here. She's here to find out what they're up to.

Brunnhilde knew the two dragons went a long way west before almost doubling back east to Beerenberg. Now she knows both where the Vorm went, and where the serpentine dragon came from. Nonetheless, Brunnhilde introduces herself. Bishop does the same.

Bishop admits that while she usually doesn't do this, her mentor is traveling-something about a mad titan who's killed half the universe's population-whatever that means. Brunnhilde chuckles, and admits that while she's from a similar background, she's the regent of a new settlement, and she's got to come up here and find out what that Vorm is up to while her boyfriend, the settlement's koenig, is...coincidentally, going after that mad titan as well.

"Sounds like you two ladies know some very brave men," a mysterious voice says, interrupting Brunnhilde.

Both women whirl to address their trespasser. Their arms are still out and at the ready.

Red Skull hovers over a boulder, above them. He looks sinister, as he always does-but he doesn't attack them.

"I have met this titan you speak of," he admits. "In another world, I led him to an object he desired. I told him its price...and then I just levitated, and watched as he threw his daughter-the only person he ever loved-off a cliff, as if she never mattered. It was a harsh thing to do, I know, but...the woman he killed did leave me stranded there, decades before then..."

Bishop puts her knives away, and switches to her bow.

Red Skull holds up his hand. "No please, before we all start flinging our strings or flicking our steel, let's here one another out. I am merely here to come save a land that was once my home. As of now, there are two dangers that threaten it more than I do-and I do believe both of them are up in that volcano...doing Odin-knows-what."

"Odin's dead," Brunnhilde accidentally says aloud, forgetting where she is and whose company she's in.

"Yes," the Red Skull admits, "so I've perceived." He approaches Brunnhilde. "In my time on Midgard, I looked up to your king's predecessor with all my heart. I also had many fond visions of the man who you now call both your king and your lover."

Brunnhilde shrugs. "He's a work in progress, but I like what we have."

"I learned of you in those days too. And I wouldn't expect you to show me hospitality if you ever knew who I was or what I did on Midgard centuries after your people saved ours from the Jotunns."

"Uh," Bishop mutters, "what's he talking about?"

On the other side of the island, all is quiet. A gentle breeze blows, and the white-capped waves gently land against the coast without influencing much.

A portal opens...from another dimension. A man falls through it. He's in ragged clothes he didn't buy...a sporran, among others. And he doesn't wake when he's dropped.

The portal closes. Moments pass before he wakes.

Back near the volcano, Red Skull and Brunnhilde finish their transaction. Bishop stands nearby, and watches the volcano, in case Wizardkiller starts getting cold feet-if he has any-about his commitment to the Vorm.

"So," Red Skull concludes, "are we agreed? Will you help me, in exchange for the Vorm's banishment?"

"She's from Vormir, is she? The Valkyrior have cut down a lot of Marauders over there." She blinks. "But there's something I don't understand. After all that war against humanity you said you raged when you lived here in Midgard, with the Space Stone, against my boyfriend's coworker... Why are you suddenly so interested in settling down?"

"Germany is my home. The Aesir are my childhood heroes. And now, both are at stake. I lost my job on Vormir when Thanos relieved me of my Stonekeeper duties. Vormir is a nice planet, and while I gladly would've settled there... I'd been developing a teleportation device with which I could've sent myself back to Midgard. Time with the Space Stone has taught me a thing or two about crossing seemingly infinite areas of space in small amounts of time.

"But of course, as I've just told you, I wasn't alone on that planet. There are dragons that can walk and handle objects like humans. With that said, they're very curious creatures. One time I let down my guard around one of my inventions, and the next thing I know, I sent a dangerous leviathan to Midgard that I'm not sure I can send back to Vormir just as easily as it accidentally sent itself there." He looks up towards Beerenberg's peak. "Alas, it's possible there is another explanation as to what drew that Vorm here, that likely has something to do with how potent that teleportation machine was as she sensed the K'un-Lun dragon's presence on Midgard..."

"And," Brunnhilde seems confused, "you promise that if I lock you up inside the New Asgardian dungeons, and give you a life sentence, you won't try to betray us if we help you?"

Red Skull looks her in the eyes. "Eighty years ago, I admit, I wouldn't have said this, but time with the Soul Stone has taught me a thing or two that, until then, I didn't even know was there to learn. I want nothing more than to live and die surrounded by the Aesir, far from alarm, in a land that I have always ever only called home, from my youth. I require nothing more from you or your people, Brunnhilde of Asgard."

She sighs. "Fine. I'll take your word for it." They shake hands. "I just want you to keep in mind that if we fail to do this, there'll be no Asgard or Germany for you to settle in. Also, in all my centuries as a Valkyrie, I've never once heard a prisoner of the Asgardian dungeons praise the food they serve there...although I suppose if you're a good boy, I can encourage Thor to commute your sentence..."

"Whatever it takes. You have my word: I will not do anything that puts Germany or New Asgard in danger."

Still a wraith, Red Skull flies around the island, leaving Brunnhilde and Bishop where they were. Once he's gone, Bishop comes back down, and talks to Brunnhilde.

Bishop thinks she knows some people who can help. She recommends that Brunnhilde stay put, and make sure Red Skull, Wizardkiller, and the Vorm don't go anywhere they shouldn't. Someone's got to go to New York and get help, and they don't know who Brunnhilde is. Bishop promises she'll come back with a transport full of troops.

Brunnhilde has her doubts, but she accepts Bishop's offer. It's not that she values what Bishop offers; it's more like she prefers to work alone, and Red Skull, the Vorm, and Wizardkiller are all hard enough for one Valkyrie, let alone one Aesir, to manage.

With that, Bishop heads for the coast. And for the time being, Brunnhilde is once again alone on her trek.

Hour after hour, Brunnhilde circles Beerenberg. High aloft, Red Skull flies, and does the same thing.

She's got a lot on her chest. Her boyfriend's in upstate New York, fighting a mad titan. And rumor has it he's made a friend who's just as blonde, and prettier than her... And this Vorm is up there with Wizardkiller, and will probably kill anyone who tries to get her and him down. And she's just made a deal with a mad wraith, who was once a Nazi leader who tried to kill one of her boyfriend's coworkers multiple times. And she'll only be so strong when or if Red Skull betrays her.

She sits. This is all just too much for her to overlook. And when she sits, she realizes that her feet feel...really good... She smiles, takes off her boots, and rubs her own feet.

She opens her eyes. A pair of huge red feet are planted on the ground before her.

Her eyes trace their owner. He wears a pair of stretchy pants. His torso and arms are just as red, just as radiating, and just as scary-looking. And high above, he has a face that's familiar...except its all red, and the face (and body, for that matter) she knows is green.

Brunnhilde sits, frozen. He stares down at her, with red-lit eyes.

"WHERE," he roars, "AM I?!"

THAT was scary. But Brunnhilde mustn't panic...

"This is Beerenberg," she says. "It's an island. There's a volcano over there. There are two dragons in that volcano..."

"How did I get here?!"

Brunnhilde shrugs. "I don't know. I just met you. Although I DO know someone who's like you, if..."

Red Hulk leaps atop a boulder nearby, and roars will all his might. Brunnhilde looks around in suspense, dreading that he'll spook the dragons if he keeps this up.

He bows his head, and sighs. He stands like that for a long time. And, he falls over. He pants, as his body gets smaller, and loses its red color.

Brunnhilde creeps forward. She'd hate to get him worked up again...although if she were still available, she wouldn't mind having sex with him if he was still red...

Back to normal, Maverick sits, and addresses a plastic prosthetic in his chest. He flips a huge switch on it, and ejects something from it.

It's cylinder-shaped, and transparent, except for the plastic side which faces what's in front of him when it's plugged into the socket he's just ejected it from. The transparency is shaded. Inside, a small red ball glows, and radiates slender red streaks around it. It's a miniaturized gamma star.

A sporran hangs in front of his stretchy pants. He slips the plug-in into it, and snaps it shut.

Brunnhilde's here. She asks him if he's alright.

He scoots over, and offers her a seat. She accepts. He asks her where he is, and how he got here. Brunnhilde gawks, and suddenly realizes she understands Bruce Banner a lot better than she did.

He tells her he was in the U.S. Army. He was part of a program to create a supersoldier that was meant to be an improvement of Hulk. But something went wrong, and they terminated the program. He was lucky to desert before Thunderbolt Ross came for him.

Brunnhilde's disappointed that he doesn't know Banner. Alas, she considers it a relief to have more pleasant company-if he can stay in control-until or if Bishop gets back with reinforcements...if they're as good as she needs to send Wizardkiller and the Vorm-and Red Skull, possibly-back to where they belong.

She doesn't yet know of the six other dangers in New York that those reinforcements will probably bring with them when and if they get here...


	22. Chapter 22

Turk Barrett returns to his jalopy in an alley, after a long day of sneaking arms deals. He's made much money. And he owes a lot of debt. Sometimes, though, he does business with the right people.

His jalopy is in the alley behind Jeri Hogarth's law firm. He unlocks the driver door, and gets in.

He notices his rearview mirror. Once again, he's got a visitor.

"Jessica Jones," he mutters. "I never thought I'd see you like this."

"Yeah, spare me the bullshit, Turk. I got partners. They're all in trouble. I need a gun."

"Figured as much. But what's the target?"

"That's the curveball. It's a dragon...and from what I've heard, he's got a friend...who seems to have become more than a friend by now."

"Ooh... That's an unusual problem, Jones. Turk Barrett's clients don't get many dragons. And the price of the Judas bullet went up after that last one didn't kill Luke Cage. Sorry about you and him, by the way. I always hoped..."

"I don't care what it takes. I need the weapon to shoot it with."

"I don't know, Jones. I'll look, but...I can't promise anything."

"Just let me know if you find something. Oh, and I...prefer it if you didn't tell anyone you're trading with me. These people I'm up against think I'm dead...as do some of my partners. I need to surprise them."

"Understood. Now," he straightens out his hair, "can Turk Barrett's Uber division take you home?"

Without hesitation, Jones gets out of his car, and runs away. Barrett smiles, chuckles, and shakes his head.

"She's gone black," he remarks. "She shouldn't go back."

Jones meets Madani at a police station. Madani's brought along one of her new coworkers at the CIA. Her name is Sharon Carter. To her coworkers, she's Agent 13 (NOT David Ketchum in Get Smart, nor Bill Murray in the movie; far from both).

Madani asks Jones how the case is going. Jones smiles, and elaborates on how it's gone. She assures her that Free Davos is not the same person as Raft Davos. He is, but he isn't.

Madani and Carter both seem confused. Madani insists that the dichotomy had better become more black-and-white soon, or else she's going to start docking Jones's pay.

Jones elaborates more, and tells that that Free Davos is working for a dark sorcerer, who wants to rid the multiverse of sorcerers. To do that, the dark sorcerer has imported a dragon from an alternate reality-the same one that Free Davos is from.

Carter and Madani still don't seem to believe her. But they listen.

Jones confesses that she needs to either kill that dragon, or send it back to where it came from, or both. And, she's got partners who're in trouble. She needs to save them too. But she doesn't know how to do that, and she's afraid that if she approaches Wong or Clea about it, she'll lead Mordo's Illuminati right to them-and that, in turn, would put Dr. Palmer in danger...as well as one more person who Jones doesn't yet have the willpower to talk about.

Madani asks, if this Free Davos truly is from another reality, as Jones says, if sending the dragon back to it would send Free Davos there as well. It's not that the local prisons are crowded; it's just that Madani and Carter are going to have a hard time convincing their superiors that there are two men in prison who have the exact same sets of fingerprints.

Jones doesn't know...but she intends to send them both back at the same time, if possible. Sadly though, she doesn't know where the dragon is. But she knows where Free Davos is. He, Mordo, and Murakami are visiting every likely volcano on Earth-199999, looking for where Wizardkiller eloped with the Vorm to.

Madani asks if Murakami was that ninja leader who got crushed by Midland Circle. Jones confirms that he's the same; but apparently she, Cage, and Rand made the mistake of leaving his head on his shoulders before leaving him. It didn't seem like a priority at the time. Murdock had just asked the three of them to leave him to die under Midland Circle as it collapsed.

Jones trades looks between the two of them, and asks them to repeat how they know each other. Madani repeats they're both CI agents.

Carter elaborates, and confesses that Captain America's her boyfriend. He and her late aunt saw each other during WWII. But when he got fished out of the ice, her aunt was too old for him, and dying. Her old boss asked her to watch and protect him, which she did, until her old employer and some other people destroyed his own agency, and required her to transfer to the CIA.

Jones stares at Carter. Carter stammers, and remembers that "Captain America" prefers "Nomad" now. She looks at Jones, and implores her not to tell anyone else that Steve Rogers is Nomad. Legally, he and a bunch of other men, who work with him, are wanted by the UN for, she clears her throat, "unauthorized hero work."

Jones nods her head. She admits that she knows about the Sokovia Accords, but can't figure out why she, Daredevil, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, or Punisher haven't been punished by them yet-no play on words intended for the latter.

Madani asks Jones who else is working with Free Davos, Murakami, and Mordo.

Jones tells her about Carson, Sterns, and Owlsley. She advises them to keep an extra eye out for Owlsley, in that he's not just a heartbreaker; he rips hearts out of chests, throws them in barrels of booze, and sets the booze aflame.

Madani smirks, and remarks that she once knew a man like that. His name was Billy Russo...the one the news still calls Jigsaw.

Carter hears Sterns's name, and remembers that Black Widow apprehended him sometime after he turned Emil Blonsky into the Abomination. She's sure SHIELD would like to know that their prisons are missing an inmate.

Carter also remarks that she's familiar with stories of how Carson was once the head of defense at SHIELD. But then he retired and became a terrorist, and after SHIELD released all of its old secrets to the world wide web, they found out that Carson was a HYDRA agent...and still is, as Carson was still at large long after Ultron killed Wolfgang Strucker, who was HYDRA's last leader before its last strongholds fell to the Avengers. And she'd heard that Carson had stolen something from Pym Tech that he could've used to make an Ant-Man suit. She just wasn't sure that he'd get desperate enough to try without Darren Cross's or Hank Pym's help.

Jones tells them about Thompson, too. She's Kilgrave's illegitimate daughter from Canada. She tried to use her power-her father's inherited power-on Jones. Jones retaliated by breaking her arm. She left the Illuminati to seek medical attention. Jones hasn't seen her since.

Madani smiles, and hopes that she'll get a clue and highball back to Canada. It's already bad enough that New York had to put up with her father, and it's too much worse that Mordo has five villains working with him.

Jones also tells them about Batroc the Leaper. But he left the Illuminati in their pocket universe, and still wasn't back before Jones escaped.

She also tells them that Mary Walker's back-if they know who she is. She gave Rand, Wing, and Knight some trouble some months ago, although she did prove herself helpful a few times.

Madani asks Jones if she'll be needing help. Jones assures them that if she does, she probably won't go to them. But she's still committed to dealing with Mordo's Illuminati and the two dragons. They can't do much damage without Wizardkiller, but they're sure to get him back, and she implores Carter and Madani to be ready when and if they do.

They both wish Jones good luck, and implore her not to make this mess bigger than the CIA. Jones chuckles, and tells them that that'll be impossible to do-in that no one knows how big the CIA actually is.

Also, Jones isn't Lieberman. She can't just hack into the CIA database whenever she feels lucky...although personally, she wouldn't mind having the innate ability to...

It's nighttime in the Catskills. But it's never a quiet night, for the Kaaterskill Falls will never know how to call it an early night. Except when there's a drought, of course. But then, of course, it's surrounded by trees; it never is.

A scary black creature with huge fangs marches through the forest. He's got something big in his arms. All of the Catskills' nocturnal creatures clear a path for him. He is hungry; but his human host insists on business before pleasure.

They've come all the way from San Francisco. They may be new to trading with Turk Barrett, but at least the scary creature's host isn't new to road trips.

The scary creature, Venom, listens for the arrival of their client. He hears something strange. He sprouts out tendrils from his back, and swings through the trees until he gets within walking range of the noises' source. Once there, he returns to the ground, and shapeshifts back into his human host, Eddie Brock.

Venom leaves the package under some trees before letting Brock take over. Brock wanders towards the forest trail, whispering for their client.

It's Jones. She stands near a black SUV, waiting for a sign. She flexes her bare arms, and follows the whispered signals. There's a moon out tonight.

The two meet. Brock gapes at her. Jones reminds her of why she's here. Brock nods, acknowledges this, and leads Jones into the forest.

The moon peers down at all. Sadly, though, it won't be ratting on any arms dealers to the ATF tonight.

"**Who is she,**" Venom asks, inside Brock's mind. "**Her breast meat looks bodacious!**"

Brock takes her to where it's hidden. He asks her what she needs it for. She doesn't hide anything, and tells him she needs it to slay a dragon. Brock arches his brows. He asks her if she'll be needing any help. Jones scoffs, and rejects his offer.

It's in a large case. Jones asks him from where he got it-besides Barrett. Brock admits that he doesn't know much about the transaction, but does know that Barrett himself got it from some weird red-headed chick named Hope Summers. Barrett seemed amazed; she just showed up to his place and left it in the backseat of his car. When Barrett asked her where she was from, she just said she was there to prevent an apocalypse. He chuckles, and admits that Barrett says she's from the future.

Jones scoffs. She admits that redheads are always trying to fool guys into thinking that they're weirder than they really are.

Brock warns Jones that the case is really heavy, and offers to help her carry it. She stuns him when she proves she can lift it over her head without straining.

Brock gapes, and asks her to remind him what she does for a living. Jones smiles, and says she's a PI. He still gapes. She adds that it's her day job.

"**She is hiding something from you,**" Venom says in Brock's head. "**And I don't mean her drumsticks!**"

She thanks Brock for his service. She reminds him which way San Francisco is, and leaves him.

Alone at last, Brock shapeshifts back into Venom. He grins, and licks his fangs.

"**I hope we meet her again,**" he says. "**With meat as that, she could keep us fed for a decade!**"

He takes to the trees and swings away. As Jones pointed out, they're a long way from San Francisco-or "Frisco," as she meant to subtly badmouth Brock.


	23. Chapter 23

These beds in Dr. Palmer's house are nice. And she's got a nice house, too. She should. She's a surgeon.

Alas, her career hasn't been the same without...a certain ex-lover of hers. But that's just life; and these beds are SO much better than him.

It's peaceful here. Alas, neither Wong nor Clea expect that to stay that way.

In the night, Wong feels himself. (NOT that way.) At long last, his ant bites have healed. Keeping his eyes closed as often has he can, he gets up for some tea.

Thompson's asleep in the other room. She can't seem to roll over in bed without irritating her broken arm. Wong would love to know how her victims stay under her mind control when she's asleep... Alas, he yawns, and it'll have to wait.

He's in so much Zen. He doesn't realize that Black Ant's within the carpet threads, stalking him...

Wong finds the kitchen. He finds the hot water. He finds the tea. He finds the means of combining them. He does. He barely blinks as he works.

He hears a noise. He pauses, but doesn't react. He grins, and goes back to his brewing. He recalls from which direction Black Ant attacked him the first time. He knows how to do this. He foresees him, and...

Black Ant leaps. Wong sighs, and opens a portal. Black Ant tries to alter course in midair, but it's too late. He falls in, and his entire army falls in with him.

The water in the measuring cup boils. Wong closes the portal.

His tea is ready. He smiles, and heads back to his room...

"Hmm, impressive counter-maneuver. I am impressed!"

Wong stops. Batroc's sitting in the dark in the sitting room. He lumbers in, and faces Batroc. He sits, and sets his tea on the table next to the chair.

"Have," Wong asks, "we met?"

"Non," he replies. "But we serve the same cause. I must speak to you of something, Master Wong. There has been a lot happening, and I am just here to sort some of the confusion."

"That's a nice accent," Wong admits. "French?"

"Algerian," Batroc says...again. "No cause to be embarrassed; everyone gets it wrong."

Black Ant falls through the portal. He lands on a woman's midriff.

He looks around. He sees her legs. He sees her thigh gap. Far away, he sees her mountainous boobs. To him, this is a majestic sight. All of her is so far away...and even better, at his disposal.

He makes contact with Mordo, and tells him that he has a hostage. Mordo thanks him, and tells him and Batroc to make sure she doesn't escape.


	24. Chapter 24

The Ghost Rider screws up while trying to get Reyes and the others out of the pocket universe. Johnson isn't sure if the others got back...but she knows that she's gotten lost, and she's all alone.

She's not scared...much. She's used to being alone. Alas, she doesn't know where she is, or if this is the reality where there's only one of her. This could be the future. Or another galaxy. She starts to get the bleeps, she starts to get the sweeps, and she starts to get the creeps...

She's surrounded by tech. She doesn't recognize any of it. Although the shapes of some of its parts seem familiar... She needs to find her way out of here so she can look around and try to find her way back to Murdock and Reyes.

She looks around. At long last, she sees a familiar sign on the wall. It's of Rand Enterprises. She's not as far from home as she dreaded.

A fragile man comes running out of a room nearby, and startles Johnson. She puts up her guard. She's right to do so. When the man stops and acknowledges her, they recognize each other.

"Nightshade," he shouts.

"Leader," she mutters.

He turns green, and his head swells. Johnson leaps back, giving him some space. He finds the most dangerous gadgetry in the room he can find, and he assembles it behind him, like an arsenal. He points all their pointy ends at Johnson.

"Herbs won't save you from these," Leader announces, "O Tiny Prick of the Niger-Congo! HOLD STILL!"

Johnson runs. Leader gives her a volley. He barely misses. The chase is on.

There's a tank with rockets. Leader uses his vast mind powers, and activates it. He levitates himself, and hovers just behind it. He rotates the gun, and points it at Johnson.

Johnson sees an elevator. She pounds her fist on the button, expecting a long wait. Alas, the elevator doors open the instant the button's pressed. Johnson gets in, and punches the only button there is on the control panel.

Like in a horror movie, the Leader closes in on her as the elevator doors close. The turret on the tank nearly has her in its sights. The doors close. The elevator shoots up.

Beneath her, Johnson hears the noise, and feels the impact, of the explosion that would've been the end of her, if not for mere moments. She's not sure how the Leader can follow her up here...or if she can expect to find refuge wherever the elevator's taking her.

It takes her to the top floor, of course...which is, apparently, also a lab. Johnson gets out, and calls for help. No good; there's no one up here. Somehow, she'll have to take on the leader on her own.

She runs around the lab, looking for a miracle. There's a lot here...and yet, there's a lot of unoccupied floor space as well.

From strings from the ceiling, a winged harness hangs. It's dark-colored, like a nightjar, and looks stealthy...

At long last, Johnson finds some chemicals. She gets to work. She hurries. She's got no idea how long it's going to take for Leader to find a way up here.

Outside, Leader hovers near the glass wall. There's a glass cleaner on duty. He turns around, sees Leader, and screams. Leader uses his powers to mangle the cleaner's body behind recognition, before using the platform to "take a dump" onto the street below.

Leader sits on the upward part of the platform as he dumps the "euthanized" window cleaner. He smiles.

"The toilet of the future," he comments. "Much more fresh air in it...than in those stuffy claustrophobic primitive human mini-saunas!"

Using his mental powers, he carves a circular hole into the glass wall. He gently removes it...and lets it fall onto the floor inside, smashing it into many shards. They'll come in handy, he hopes, in his last business with Nightshade. He hovers around the top floor lab, calling out Nightshade's name...

He looks around. This place looks like the Winter Palace. Glass fixtures hang from the ceiling. There's snow falling outside. Tall softwood trees, decorated in white, stand here and there...

Sterns looks at himself. He looks like Jason Biggs.

Out from behind a tree, a Czech beauty makes herself known. She's in a pink robe. She giggles when she sees him. "Nice rose pattern," she says in a sweet Slavic accent.

Sterns/Biggs looks down. He's in nothing but a pair of rose-patterned boxers.

"What is this," Sterns asks, "Czechian Pie?! Whatever happened to good ole homemade American Pie?!"

Nadia takes off her robe, revealing her sheer white lingerie. She poses for him, and smiles.

Below, Sterns can feel a tent pitching. He feels like he's back in 1993-in Biggs's body.

He looks back up. She's right in front of him. Her bare arms are around his neck. Her sweet Czechian odor penetrates ever nth of him...

"Please," Sterns begs. "I might prematurely ejaculate...like last time!"

"Mm, calm down, mishka," she croons Slavly...I mean softly. "I promise I'll be your angel."

All around, music begins playing. Sterns looks around. There are small groups of musical instruments everywhere. They're playing by themselves.

All around, heavenly sunlight pours through the glass walls, and irrigates the whole room. The walls are painted in broad black and white stripes.

Sterns looks back. Natasha Bedingfield has joined him.

She sings, to him, "Angel." For it, she spreads a broad pair of white wings-a pair that'd make Warren Worthington III bleed green.

She wraps her bare arms around his neck, and sings to him seductively. Sterns looks like himself again.

Bedingfield teleports all over the room, confusing him. She multiplies herself, and stands in formation, in an arrowhead pointing at him.

She wears a zebra-striped bra beneath a leather coat with a low-cut. Sterns stares down it.

Sterns looks around. He's falling through the sky...towards Central Park.

All around him, Captain Panties chases a little snowy owl. She looks like Dreama Walker, from Don't Trust the B- in Apartment 23. Her panties and cape are both pink. Poor little Hedwig there sure doesn't look like he stands a chance...or on a perch, for that matter...

He looks like he's about to splash down in the California sea lion exhibit. Alas, an angel appears from out of nowhere, and saves him...

She teleports him...to a dark hall with purple walls and rails. Bedingfield's wearing a bride's dress now. She hasn't stopped singing to him. Sterns is in love now.

Bedingfield leads him by the hand, to the exit at the end of the hall. It leads into a bright wedding hall, where multiple clones of Bedingfield offer him nice glasses of white wine. They're all still singing. They all sound like one of her at times.

Sterns is dazed. He's not rebounding anytime soon.

In real life, Nightshade has led him to Harlem's Paradise. He's reverted to Samuel Sterns. He sits still, with big eyes. He still thinks he's in a wedding hall full of multiple Natasha Bedingfields.

All around him, black locals in Harlem club and have a good time. The nightclub has a very special guest singer: Paul Thorn. He stands on stage and sings one of his classics: "Bull Mountain Bridge."

While singing, Thorn points at the dazed Sterns, as if having a fantasy about doing the same thing to him. Sterns doesn't even react.

During the chorus, the nightclub guests sing along-best they can, considering that normal humans can't sing. It's as if they can't even tell he's not black.

Up in the box, Luke Cage watches the performance, and smiles. Foggy Nelson and Marci Stahl sit on either side of him.

"This is sweet," Nelson admits. "Do...white singers usually perform here?"

Cage smiles, and shakes his head. "But just to keep Harlem happy, I don't think we'll make this a habit."

Stahl shrugs. "I sure wouldn't...unless I wanted Abomination to come in here and put me out of business."

Nelson tries to ignore her when she says things like that. He doesn't think she could possibly have a crush on Abomination...alas, he's met weirder women.

Cage sits, and listens to the performance. It's hard to believe he's not the same man Claire Temple fell in love with.

Downstairs, Johnson scurries into a ladies' room, and re-prepares herself. She's never worked with those chemicals before, and therefore has no idea how long she's got before Sterns realizes he's fallen for another one of her seductive hallucinations.

"Wow," Johnson mutters. "I've never imagined I was a blonde before."

She prepares herself. Once done, she hurries and checks the toilet stall. She heaves a relief; it's still where she left it. And to think it has wings.

It's the Nighthawk wingpack from Rand Enterprises, which she used to bring Sterns here. And right now, she can think of more than a few people who could use its services...


	25. Chapter 25

Owlsley wakes. He rolls over. He flinches. Those places which Walker's needles went in still hurt.

He's in a hospital room. It's at night. Perfect. He checks his physicality, to see if he can move. He can. He creeps through the hospital, and escapes.

He visits the pocket universe. Nobody's there. He calls Thompson. He calls Wing. He calls Knight. He calls Sterns. He calls Batroc. He calls Carson. He starts to call Walker-but hesitates. Nobody answers.

He hears a faint song in the background. It sounds like Vince Gill singing "When I Call Your Name."

Owlsley sighs, and leaves. Just as he feared, Walker betrayed them and let the captives loose. That, of course, means that Murdock's free too. But on the upside, at least Owlsley doesn't have to wait for Mordo's permission anymore to kill Murdock.

He even found out Daredevil's secret identity. He's pretty sure his father never ventured THAT far into enemy territory...

Up ahead, Murdock talks on a payphone. He calls Dr. Palmer, and gives her an update as to how the defensive's going.

Wong explains that Wizardkiller's in Beerenberg with the Vorm, but that Mordo, Steel Serpent, and Murakami are currently looking for him in the Andes. Either he or Clea could teleport him and the other Defenders there-Beerenberg, of course, not the Andes.

Wong would ask Clea to transport them to Beerenberg-alas, a very awkward situation has just come up. Murdock raises his head, and asks what it is.

Owlsley climbs a pole. He leaps off, and charges Murdock. He lights a match, veers up, and drops it. The match lands next to a propane tank near the payphone.

The tank blows. The payphone booth is shot into the night sky like a rocket.

Owlsley loops around. He charges the phone booth, and shattered everything in it. Loose glass and change fly everywhere, like sparks from an exploding firework. He and Murdock are at it again.

Owlsley pins Murdock to the side of an apartment building. He poises over Murdock-and looks like a bastardization of a flying fox and a colugo while doing so.

"Now you die," Owlsley sneers, "Murdock!"

"You know," Murdock coughs, "you just made a mess of at least seven dollars worth of change!"

Owlsley gapes. "What, can you tell how big the coins are when they hit the ground, or something?!"

Jones opens her window. She sees Owlsley. He sees her. Murdock doesn't see anything.

"Lee," Jones sneers.

"Jessica," Owlsley mutters.

Jones is drinking from a shot glass full of Wild Turkey. She spills it in Owlsley's face. He falls. She catches Murdock, and drags her into her apartment.

She tells her to stay inside while she goes after Owlsley. Murdock coughs, and wishes her good luck.

She leaps out her own window, and starts falling towards the street. She remembers how much she hates Owlsley...

She closes her eyes. Like Dumbo, when she opens them and looks down, she's flying!

No time for a musical number of racist crows singing "When I See an Elephant Fly," though. Owlsley is a roasted bird she's dreamed of nuking for quite some time now...

Ah, she shouldn't've used the word "nuke." Simpson was a really bad boyfriend for Trish, even if he did die protecting her...

Ah, Trish again... Time to think about the fight!

He's airborne again, and is coming up behind her. Like a pair of dueling fighter jets, they fly among the high-rises of the Big Apple, waiting for the perfect opportunities to dogfight one another.

And this'll be a dogfight of passion. Jones just hopes this doesn't become a dogfight to remember...for with it, she'll be avenging her most recent broken heart.

In a park, Sarah Lieberman watches from a bench as her children play. Both they and she look up as Jessica Jones flies past the park, through the sky, with the Owl chasing her.

"It's a bird," Leo says.

"It's a plane," Zach says.

"Keep playing, kids," Sarah says to her children. "We all know that wasn't Superman."

Owlsley chases Jones. Jones is flying hard and fast.

"I don't want to fight you, Jessica," Owlsley calls out. "I just want to talk!"

Jones dives, and does a loop. Owlsley glides to the side and up to avoid her. Now she's chasing him. Alas, he should be afraid of her, if he isn't.

"I don't talk," Jones sneers. "I guzzle booze and break noses!"

She's gaining on him. Looks like he's in trouble...

She chases him past a Rand Enterprises building. Near the top story, a window cleaner's nest hangs by one side. Near it, a hole's been cut into one of the glass walls. The nest has the words "TOILET OF THE FUTURE" painted on the side of its deck.

High over the JFK International Airport, they fight one another. Jones has got the power. Owlsley has got almost mystical maneuverability. They loop around incoming and outgoing planes, and roll away from them.

They're probably going to call in the Air National Guard. But Jones doesn't care...although Owlsley might...

They smash through a glass wall at the Scene Contempo Gallery, startling many visitors. Vanessa Marianna used to work here...before her new husband, Wilson Fisk, got sent to prison...again...

In the center of a large room stands a mighty statue of Athena, the Greek goddess of war. An owl is perched on her bare shoulder.

Still fighting, Jones and Owlsley land within the ropes that surround the statue. Now it's like they're in a fighting ring-and in the statue's presence, they're both now twice as strong.

If only the owl didn't look so small on Athena's shoulder... But of course, there were no great horned owls in Greece back when the ancient Greeks had sex fantasies about an amazon who worshiped owls and olive wood...

Greek men were quite the cougar bait, weren't they?

Jones chases Owlsley around the statue. Owlsley climbs the statue, leaps off, and glides in a spiral motion around the roped-in area. Jones climbs one of the posts, leaps off of it, intercepts Owlsley mid-glide, and pins him. She rolls him around on the ground, and hammers his ball sack to a pulp.

From upstairs, Mrs. Fisk starts to come downstairs. She stops and screams when she sees Jones and Owlsley fighting each other in Athena's bronzed presence.

Jones looks up, while strangling Owlsley. He shakes angrily, and beholds his father's boss's new wife, while bloodshot-eyed and upside down.

"Sorry about this, Mrs. Fisk," Jones calls up. "Congrats on the wedding, BTW."

Mrs. Fisk gapes, and shakes her head.

"I would've loved to have been there, except," she starts rolling around on the floor with Owlsley again, "I HAVE A REALLY CREEPY AND SNEAKY EX-BOYFRIEND, WHOSE BONES," she body-slams him on the floor, "I'LL SOON NEED TO REARRANGE INTO TURKEY STYLE!"

Jones presses her heel into Owlsley's throat. Up above, Mrs. Fisk still can't process what she's seeing.

"Oh by the way, Mrs. Fisk...have you got anything up there besides red red wine? I don't know how, but it's just that whooping my ex-boyfriends' asses makes me thirsty enough for some Wild Turkey bourbon..."

Owlsley kicks Jones in the face. He leaps from the ring, climbs a stone column nearby, and glides away. Jones runs after him, and takes off. She gets to sign an autograph for a little girl before doing so.

"O Wilson," Vanessa sobs, "why ever did you have to go and piss off the Devil of Hell's Kitchen?!"

Jones and Owlsley both splash down into the pond at the Pond and Hallet Nature Sanctuary. Here, they can beat the shit out of one another without fear of judgment.

There are many species of invasive plants here. They'll come in useful, as heroine and villain work arduously to overpower each other.

Owlsley finds an alianthus vine. Jones finds a wisteria vine. Using them as weapons, they whip each other, and try to strangle each other. And when they can, they try to tie one another up.

Nearby, there's a groundskeeper, who tries to make sure the invasive plant species don't try to outgrow the nature sanctuary. He stops, and watches the fight.

Owlsley lures Jones into the forest. In here, he ambushes her, ties her up in an alianthus vine, and leaves her. He leaves her for a moment, and wiggles a bare branch off a black cherry tree. It's as big as a sword.

"No beautiful woman," Owlsley sneers, "beats the shit out of and humiliates an Owlsley and gets away with it!" He stands over her chest. Jones is tied up so well, she can barely move. Owlsley may be a rich pretty boy, but he sure knows his knots-or the Big Apple, for sure.

"I've got enough trouble in love without a PI who looks and acts like she ought to be fighting Ronda Roussey in the UFC. It's been fun, Jessica, but old lovers have gotta move on sometime." He raises the branch to impale her through the chest. "Good night, Jessica...forever."

For Jones, it seems hopeless. But she's no Jewish princess; she keeps her eyes open, and watches as her ultimate demise impends...

A scary shrieking noise fills the forest. Owlsley stops, and looks around. Next thing he knows, he's broadsided by a sonic weapon. It pitches him halfway through the forest, where he inadvertently slices a nurse log in half.

Someone comes and unties Jones from the vines. She pulls Jones to her feet-like an angel.

It's a black girl. She's dressed to kill...in a cybernetic winged harness. The wings are black-as is most of the rest of the wingpack. She wears a sexualized top made of chain mail, and night-vision aviation goggles whose lenses appear to vanish whenever their wearer is grounded...as she is now.

"Ah, Tilda!" Jones slaps her on the shoulder, and bumps her head against her hawk head-shaped helmet-only to find out that hurts.

Johnson giggles. "Good to see you again, Jessica. I would say I wish it was under better circumstances, except... I just fooled Sterns into thinking I was Natasha Bedingfield."

Jones gives her a strange look.

Owlsley climbs a tree, and glides back into action. He charges Jones and Johnson head-on.

Jones punches him in the face, and punts him across the city. Nighthawk takes to the sky, swoops on him, grabs him, sprays a Nightshade chemical in his face, via her gauntlet, and drops him into the Lincoln Center.

Owlsley hits the ground. He looks around. He's in a dark forest. It smells of dead leaves and wood. There's a full moon out. It's quiet.

He hears a noise. He jumps. A little screech owl is perched on a branch, looking down at him with big eyes. Owlsley can't really tell how he feels, but...he seems anxious, about something...

Someone whispers. Owlsley looks towards her. Something scarier and shadowier is in a tree higher up. She tells him he could've cared for that owl better. She tells her that owl could be bigger...and healthier...

He asks who she is. She leaps from the tree. He backs away. She spreads her black avian wings, and approaches him.

She's black. She wears a mask. Her lips are big. Her black clothes are revealing.

In the background, opera music plays. Some or most of the lines that follow are sung...

"You can still have me, your dark angel," she whispers. "But if you want me, you must choose against that deep cold grave that your quest for your father's revenge will lead you to."

Owlsley chuckles. "Not everyone dies of revenge, bimbo. Just some. M-most," he stammers...

"My love nest is dark and peaceful," she whispers. "Although, I can be aggressive when I'm down. Many say I always am. Alas, there is another love nest, which you've rejected, whose host may still have longing for your owl mind, your owl grip, and your owl sleight of hand-traits, no doubt, that'vde been passed down through the Owlsley family ever since the first one dared settle in this forest many centuries ago..."

Owlsley hears footsteps. He dreads their maker.

A full-bodied feminine shadow creeps into the light. The light hits her. She's blonde and brown-eyed. She looks a spooky lot like Shakira.

"This is almost embarrassing," she says, in Jessica Jones's voice. "This'd better work."

The Dark Angel spreads her wings. "Two nests ready for you, Lee. You can have hers, or you can have mine. But it doesn't matter which you choose; both require you to compromise your father's memory, any fondness of Kingpin you might have, and the hate for Daredevil you still harbor."

Owlsley hears heavier footsteps. And, he hears snarling where those come from.

A bipedal wolf, with palomino-blonde fur, steps into the moonlight. She looks scary. Blood trickles from her jaws. And there are spots of it all over her.

"Melodramatic," the wolf says, with Walker's voice. "But I'm sure all three of us can agree it beats a Sokovian POW camp."

Dark Angel sighs comfortably. "Werewolves," she muses. "I've always had visions of commanding a pack of them. Alas, Palamina here will just have to do."

A wraith floats into the mix. A skeleton glows orange beneath his robe.

"No need to ride," Wraith Writer says, in Reyes's voice, "when you can levitate!"

An arrow hits an oaken tree trunk nearby. There's a heart carved into it-which the arrow hit, of course.

An archer stands on a branch. She leaps, grabs a cable, and slides down on it, and into the mix. She swings away from the cable before she hits the ground. She looks like...Keira Knightley in Princess of Thieves.

"We all anticipate your choice, Lee," Dark Angel croons. "Alas, we won't wait indefinitely."

Dark Angel, She-Wolf, Palamina, and Gwyn all surround Owl. They sing arias, and do their best to seduce him.

Wraith Writer ventures farther away, levitates, and watches. He'd hate to hurt Owl...but then, they'll all have to if he doesn't choose love over war.

Owl looks up, past the seductresses. That screech owl is still there...and even smaller than before.

"The devil killed my father," Owl whispers. "I must kill him..."

The seductresses scatter. The Wood Devil falls from the trees, and stands before the fallen Owl. On his head, he has dead twigs in lieu of horns. His eyes are big, and furious...

"You're a fool," the Wood Devil damns. "And when you fall," he secretes serpents from his fists, "only your critics will give a hoot!"

Owl screams. The Wood Devil's snakes surround him, elongate themselves, and spin around him, like string around a spool. And they both bite him. In the snakes' coils, he sobs frailly...and goes limp.

Murdock and company are standing in the middle of a ballet stage in the Lincoln Center. Owlsley lies before his feet. Once again, he's tied up in Daredevil's coils. All around them, the were-rehearsing ballet dancers watch in awe.

A few of the dancers are taking photos with their phone. Some of them ask Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Nighthawk, Typhoid Mary, Hawkeye, or Jessica Jones for their autographs.

At long last, Bishop has arrived to deliver her message to the three Defenders and the two Secret Defenders present. She's amused at having imagined that she was Keira Knightley without trying to...

"Brunnhilde," Reyes repeats, after she fills them in. "I've heard of Sif...but that's the first I've heard of her."

"She's at Beerenberg," Bishop tells them, "but I don't know for how much longer. Mordo and the others will soon be there to recollect Wizardkiller if she's the only Defender there to stop him."

Jones scoffs. "Defenders?!' I wasn't aware we'd reassembled." She kicks Owlsley in the head, as he lies unconscious, while trapped in the coils of Daredevil's club.

"Villains these days," Walker mutters, staring down at Owlsley. "They're not even major threats...and they still take way too much effort to put down."

"We'd better get a move-on to Beerenberg," Murdock tells them, "before Owlsley wakes up. Thanks again, Johnson, by the way, for the vision."

"Would still like to know how your seductive illusions work," Jones remarks.

"Me too," Johnson admitted. "I saw you and Owlsley in one of them earlier, as I was seducing Sterns. Owlsley was a snowy owl. And you were Captain Panties, chasing him...and you looked like Dreama Walker in _Don't Trust the B- in Apartment 23_."

Jones snickers loudly. "I like the title. Although it seems a little dark for Dreama Walker. Isn't she that cute blonde who played one of Blair Waldorf's peeps in _Gossip Girl_?"

"Yes...but she's just the title character's roommate. The title character, oddly enough, looks a lot like you."

Jones snickers even more loudly. "Me?! The title character of a TV show?! That'll be the day I become besties with James Van Der Beek!"

Johnson just sighs, and shakes her head. That woman's got NO idea what she's missing out on...

"So many cute blondes named Walker," Jones mutters. "You'd think other families would breed more." She snickers. "I barely remember the time the Joneses still bred like rabbits."


	26. Chapter 26

The black clouds over Beerenberg have gotten thicker. They're about to get even thicker yet.

Near the coast, a portal opens. Mordo marches out. He's joined by Murakami, Davos, Knight, and Wing. Behind them, the portal closes.

Mordo acknowledges Beerenberg's crater. There's light dancing around inside it. Davos and Murakami both smile. They know Wizardkiller's power when they see its traces.

"At long last," Mordo confesses, "we've reclaimed the weapon of our war. It only lies a hike away, inside that fiery mountain's crater."

"Great," Knight acknowledges, with glowing violet eyes. "How do we subdue him without Leader or Persuasion?"

"In case you've all forgotten, I'm a sorcerer. I know spells."

Davos stares at Mordo. "Why haven't you used them before?!"

"The spell I know won't work for long. Besides, Leader's only a portal-opening away...alas, I am no longer equally certain about Persuasion."

"She's got a broken arm," Wing admits, with violet-glowing eyes. "We'd best leave her be."

In an arrowhead formation, they march up towards the peak. Mordo's at point, of course. Wing and Knight are at the far flanks. Mordo doesn't seem to consider this a security risk...

Up high, Brunnhilde and Maverick watch. They know the enemy's arrived...and they know they're outnumbered...if not outgunned.

"The archer said he's bringing company," Maverick reminded her. "Depending on how dangerous they are, I might not be able to stay the Red Hulk long enough to beat all of them."

"I planned not to allow thee to slay them all," Brunnhilde says, smiling. "But I heed your words."

The Illuminati are getting closer. Nothing's stopping them.

Brunnhilde draws her Dragonfang sword. Maverick seems confused.

"Midgard will fall if they offend those dragons to the point of berserk," she tells him. "I am already a refugee of one fallen world."

She leaves. Maverick sighs, and takes the plug-in out of his sporran. The miniaturized gamma star is bright, red, and ready for another round. He pops it into the socket on his chest, and runs after Brunnhilde.

The Illuminati are at Beerenberg's base. Like lone gunslingers, Brunnhilde and Maverick march out to meet them.

Mordo stops. Behind him, the formation stops too. Brunnhilde boldly holds her sword in front of her face. Maverick stands nearby, fists clenched-but avoiding the temptation to lose his temper.

Behind Mordo, Davos's fists barely glow red. Mordo holds up his hand; Davos's fists dim.

"We haven't met," Mordo announces. "Who are you?"

"I am Brunnhilde-regent ruler of New Asgard. This is Robert, son of Maverick, former warrior of the United States. This island is under a state of emergency. You are forbidden to enter!"

"Clever," Maverick mutters, "but will it work?"

Mordo smiles. "Regent ruler,' are you?" He looks around. "I certainly don't mean to sound cliche, but...you and what army?"

Right on time, Brunnhilde's reinforcements arrive. Jones, Johnson, and Reyes take one flank. Murdock, Walker, and Bishop take the other. They're all suited up-except for Reyes and Maverick, whose powers lose control once activated.

Brunnhilde smiles. "Not to sound cliche, but...need I say more?"

"Walker," Mordo calls out. "Your treachery saddens me."

Bloody Mary cackles. "Thompson's mind control was a real bitch. But I'm over her. All three of us are!"

"Congrats," Mordo admits. "It seems you all outnumber me two to one."

Many smiles...

"But it just so happens I have something that's better than numbers. I have a hostage-and if you don't stand aside and let us up, she gets it!"

"She," some of the Defenders whisper; Jones only grins.

"It turns out you had someone treat Master Wong after I sent Black Ant to attack him. That was very kind of you. I'm sure he would've died if she hadn't patched him up. It turns out I once had a colleague that she patched up after a dark sorcerer named Kaecilius mortally wounded him..."

"You leave Dr. Palmer out of this," Murdock shouts. "She's not a sorcerer, and she's not a target!"

Nighthawk spreads her wings. Reyes inadvertently becomes the Ghost Rider.

"Some of you must think I'm bluffing," Mordo muses. "I can sense it in your expressions. But my proof is only a spell away. Just allow me to perform a couple of others, and help even this playing field a little more..."

Mordo waves his hands, and creates a portal. Sterns falls through it, still in the same chair Nighthawk left him in at Harlem's Paradise. The chair breaks when he hits the ground. He wakes.

He stands, and looks around. He's Sterns. It takes him a while to recognize his surroundings. And, he acknowledges Nighthawk.

She grins, and waves. Sterns straightens up, and heaves a sigh.

Mordo opens another portal. Owlsley falls through it. He's still tied up in Daredevil's cable. Sterns sighs, becomes Leader, and telekinetically removes the cable coils from around Owlsley's body.

"He's still three men short," Bishop mutters, grinning.

"Four," Maverick mutters, "if he wants to outnumber us."

Mordo grins. "And now, without further ado, the hostage:"

He opens another portal-to a bedroom in Dr. Palmer's house. Inside, a woman in lingerie lies atop a bed.

Batroc's there. He's zigzagging around the bed, with a camera. It seems he's making big money shots. Algiers-forbid if he ever sells them...

Jones and Walker both sigh. Mordo waits a long time for Batroc to notice them. Moments pass. He keeps photographing the woman's exposed body.

The Defenders bend over and try to peek...but they can only see the lower half of the woman's body. The portal isn't wide enough.

"BATROC!"

The Leaper leaps, of course. He giggles, and waves through the portal.

Wing shakes her head, in a disapproving manner.

Batroc gently scoops the lingerie-clad woman in his arms, and carefully creeps through the portal. Once through, the portal vanishes behind him.

Bishop has the best vision. She scans the woman's body, and sees a small black creature scurrying across her bare belly.

She snickers. "Two more for the king's army, looks like," she mutters.

"Two more," Murdock asks.

Bishop nods. "Black Ant's on her tummy."

Nighthawk scoffs. "Some guys never quit."

"Voila, she is here," Batroc shouts, in his likable French-Algerian accent. "The hostage!"

Mordo smiles. "So, as a few of you, I'm sure, have already figured out, I've got a nano-warrior stationed on her body. He can kill, or rape her if he wants. He merely waits for my command!"

In Batroc's arms, the young damsel lies very still. She's not even snoring.

Jones smiles. "Congrats, Mordo. Your ingenuity is legendary. And I must confess that in the more relevant scenario, you'd have us all in a tight spot."

Finished exploring her tummy and navel for a while, Black Ant crawls into her panties, to go spelunking in her pussy. Between her legs, he's in dangerous territory right now...

Mordo's smile slips to a frown. "I'm sorry, but...what do you mean by, 'the more relevant scenario?"

"It's simple, really." She gestures towards the sleeping beauty. "You think that's Dr. Palmer. She's not. Her name is Clea. And she's a sorceress...from the future."

With that, Clea claps her thighs together, trapping Black Ant. She spreads her arms, and levitates towards the Defenders' rank.

The violet light leaves Batroc's eyes. He leaps across the line of scrimmage, and into the Defenders' ranks.

The same light leaves the eyes of Wing and Knight. They both abandon Mordo's Illuminati, and rejoin the Defenders.

Mordo seems dumbfounded. They all do.

Clea projects some energy from her body, and expels Black Ant. Now on the ground, he leaps back into the Illuminati's ranks, and resizes himself to normal. He enlarges his hand, and makes a fist. He shakes it back at the Defenders, subtly cursing them.

Knight gasps when he sees him do this.

Carson pauses. He lifts his suit's visor, re-sizes his hand to normal, points a finger at her, and laughs incessantly.

Knight narrows her eyes, turns her prosthetic arm into a laser cannon, and shoots Carson in the groin. He screams like a girl, falls over, and cries.

"Oh, my poor little HYDRA head eggs," he whimpers. "I'm so sorry; you'll be horribly disfigured when I'm finally cut off."

Jones wiggles her brows, and smiles. "Looks like you're outnumbered two to one again, Mordo!"

She's right. As the ranks currently stand, there are twelve Defenders and only six Illuminati.

Mordo sighs, and raises his head. "And I suppose Thompson's done us the dishonor of defecting too?"

"It was my idea," Jones admitted. "She just helped. It seems she didn't take it too well when you chose Sterns to ride the dragon instead of her. You broke her heart! She was looking forward to that-even if you were going to use the poor little dragon as a genocidal weapon!"

"Actually," Davos mutters...

"And Walker," Mordo asks, cutting Davos off. "When did she leave me?"

"SAY IT TO MY FACE, WUSS," Bloody Mary screams.

"We were never loyal to you," Jones continues. "None of us were. Thompson gave them orders. They were never what you thought, but they were always what you expected-right up until she ordered them to leave you."

"And I'll wager to guess," Mordo adds, "that she's not really in a hospital, either?"

"She's safe," Jones regurgitates. "And I've made her promise not to subdue her caregivers! But her arm really is broken. Her bad!"

Knight snickers.

Black Ant recovers. Owl stands. Leader is still green. Murakami's got his tonfas at the ready. Steel Serpent's fists barely glow with dim red light. Mordo pulls out his staff, and elongates it.

"I am desperate," Mordo tells them. "My weapon to save the world is inside that mountain. With or without your help, I will get what I've come for. And I would delight in killing all of you...but I'm warning you all that this is the last time I'm inviting you to leave, stay out of the way, and let me do my job." He acknowledges Clea. "And Clea, very soon, the two of us are going to have a little talk that you are NOT going to enjoy."

As called for, Jones flexes her bare arms. Daredevil pulls out his club. Ghost Rider's flames burn brighter. Maverick loses his temper, and becomes Rulk. Nighthawk spreads the wings in her wingpack, and shrieks. Bloody Mary draws her machetes, and hisses. Hawkeye draws an arrow, and pulls it back on the string on her bow. Knight arms her prosthetic arm. Wing's fists glow with white light. Leaper spins, while warming up his savate kicks. Valkyrie holds her Dragonfang sword to where the sunlight makes it glimmer like diamond. Clea conjures some clothes for herself, levitates, and generates energy orbs into her hands.

Mordo chuckles. "Once again, diplomacy fails. Illuminati!" Steel Serpent's fists glow bright red. Black Ant shrinks, and mounts one of Murakami's tonfas. "ATTACK!"

The Defenders split into pairs. Each pair takes on one of the Illuminati as they come up Beerenberg's base.

What follows will rage. And with an insane amount of luck, it won't inadvertently awaken the two lovebirds, who hibernate passionately in the mountain's volatile chamber.


	27. Chapter 27

With a bright red fist, Steel Serpent punches the ground, and makes a tremor, tripping the defensive. Telekinetically, Leader gathers whatever loose solid materials he finds on the ground anywhere, aims them at the Defenders' defensive, and gives them a volley.

Using Mordo as a ramp, Owl leaps, and then glides into action. He aims for Jones.

He gets hit in the chest by one of Hawkeye's regular arrows. He spirals and falls like an injured bird far from Jones.

Nighthawk takes flight. Wanting revenge, Leader telekinetically gathers a huge boulder, and prepares to chuck it at her while she's in flight. He's broadsided by Red Hulk, and the fight resumes-for the first time since the Brooklyn Bridge. Colleen Wing arrives, lights up her fists white, and helps Rulk.

With tonfas in hand, Murakami charges Daredevil and Jones. He too, wants revenge...

Leaper intervenes, and kicks him in the head. He's unarmed. Murakami gathers his tonfas, and spars with Leaper. They're both relentless.

Black Ant sees Misty Knight. He leaps, shrinks himself, and dives for her downblouse-and a VERY appealing downblouse it still is...

Bloody Mary broadsides him, in midair, with one of her machetes. He lands, instead, in Valkyrie's downblouse...

Mordo leaps, and aims for Clea. She's a sorceress, and therefore, his priority, with or without Wizardkiller...

Daredevil lassos Mordo's staff with the cable in his club, and pulls him away from Clea. As he's still swinging around in midair, Jones catches him off-guard and punches him in the nose. Once grounded, she kicks him in the belly. She grabs his staff and tries to break it over her knee-but it won't break.

Steel Serpent sees Wing, fighting Leader with Rulk. His fists glow red, and he charges her.

Clea flies up behind him, and puts a spell on him, neutralizing his weight. She grabs him by the belt, and carries him away. While in midair, she summons Ghost Rider. Ghost Rider levitates, and follows her uphill.

Murakami twirls his tonfas, screams, and charges Leaper. Leaper leaps, slides, and grabs Murakami's tonfas as he's flying over. Murakami's got twin tight grips. His body spins to where he's upside down at the zenith of his punting.

Nighthawk swoops in, and grabs Murakami by the feet. Her gauntlets lasso themselves to Murakami's ankles, trapping him.

Flying back and forth, she dive-bombs Leaper. Leaper leaps, and punches Murakami in a sensitive area each time. They have loads of fun with this. Murakami doesn't.

Bloody Mary raises her machete, and charges Valkyrie. Valkyrie, not realizing what's happening, screams, and raises her Dragonfang sword to defend herself...

Black Ant leaps out of hiding, from between Valkyrie's boobs, and re-sizes himself to normal. Now vulnerable, Bloody Mary charges with her machetes, and Valkyrie charges the same target with her sword.

Attacked by two girls, Black Ant thinks. He's going to enjoy this. He shrinks himself, and goes for Valkyrie's upskirt. Using her machete as a badminton racket, Bloody Mary bats him away once more...

Clea flies up the mountainside, with Steel Serpent in tote. It's a long way to the crater, where Wizardkiller and the Vorm slumber in sweet bliss.

Steel Serpent regains some of his balance, and fights Clea in mid-flight. She fights back. She's a hard girl to wiggle loose from. Plus, she's suspended his weight via a spell, so he can't use that to his advantage.

Nonetheless, he taps into his own qi energy, and his fists light up red again. He punches his captor in the ass, and falls free.

Ghost Rider swoops in, and catches Steel Serpent before he hits the mountainside. Steel Serpent is now too weak to summon the Serpent's Sting.

Up ahead, Clea opens a portal. Ghost Rider flies through it. Behind him, she follows him and closes it. It's taken them to Vormir.

On Vormir, the sun radiates the planet with a dim light that's somewhere between red, purple, and blue. It's humid. Ghost Rider, in his fiery skeleton form, carries Steel Serpent over a vast lake. Behind him and above, Clea follows him.

This planet's atmosphere is...influential. It compels one to relax, and think of home. And to think that Red Skull was trapped in this world for over half a century. It's tempting to settle here...alas, Ghost Rider and Clea must get Steel Serpent back to where he came from.

Farther away, a Vorm, with humanoid physiology, rows a gondola across the lake. It seems, from where Clea flies, that there are two passengers amidships, lying with one another. The coxswain stops rowing, and watches Ghost Rider and Clea fly by. Clea casts a concealment spell, so they won't see them.

Beneath the surface, there's a Vorm that swims like a mosasaur. He senses the two airborne projectiles above the surface. He swims in circles, pumps his fins, and breaches the surface. He opens his toothy jaws, and dives towards Ghost Rider.

Clea casts a portal, sending the Vorm mosasaur somewhere where he won't eat them. She opens another portal, which Ghost Rider inadvertently flies through. She does too, and closes it behind them. This one's taken them to K'un-Lun.

Back on Beerenberg, a Norwegian battalion approaches the volcano, in hovercraft, jeeps, amphibious tanks, and dirt bikes. They're charged with protecting Norway when it's invaded, or otherwise threatened by, apocalyptic dragons and/or villains.

From another angle, a NATO battalion also approaches Beerenberg. There are a few Norwegian volunteers within its ranks. The dragons and villains are a threat to the North Atlantic, as well as Earth. They approach the volcano in jeeps, hovercraft, and dirt bikes.

From another angle, in the sky, a SHIELD Quinjet approaches the volcano. They've been notified by certain CI agents that there are fugitives from SHIELD on the island; Sterns and Carson, namely.

At the base of the volcano, the Defenders' defensive is ongoing, waging, and raging. Of the six villains, Steel Serpent's power posed the biggest risk of waking the dragons up at the wrong time. Thankfully, he's no longer among the offending Illuminati. Thankfully, he's back in K'un-Lun-albeit still in the wrong reality.

In K'un-Lun, Ghost Rider flies Steel Serpent into Shou-Lao's cave. Once inside, he drops him on the cave floor.

Steel Serpent's fists are dim. They're as cold as stone.

Clea arrives. She conjures a chain, and gives it to Ghost Rider. She marvels at the cave's wonders, and acknowledges Steel Serpent. "Let's send him back, Ghost Rider."

"With pleasure," the fiery skeleton hisses. He empowers the chain, swings it around, and lassos Steel Serpent with it. Clea reaches out her hand, and puts a spell on Steel Serpent, that ensures he's returned to his proper reality. Gradually, with the glowing chain lasso still around him, Steel Serpent fades from view...and vanishes.

Back in his own reality, Davos crawls out of the cave, and looks around. The skies are infested with many of Shou-Lao's kind. Some slither up and down the mountainsides, like giant snakes. The humans of K'un-Lun live like hunter-gatherers, avoiding the apex predators' dangerous strikes.

They're immortal. Davos remembers when he had to slay one to become Steel Serpent. Its kin will probably never forgive him for that. Unless he was a criminal in life...but that's a gamble.

His parents are probably still somewhere out here. With luck, the dragons ate them, and he won't have to tell him that his most recent mission was a failure.

On Beerenberg, Owl glides in spirals around Hawkeye and Misty Knight. Knight uses her prosthetic arm, and shoots various projectiles up at him. Hawkeye shoots many arrows up at him; normal and trick. Owl's been hit by all many times; Knight and Hawkeye are both impressed he's still gliding.

Nighthawk flies away from Leaper. She's still got Murakami upside down.

Murakami's inspired, by how sophisticated Nighthawk's tiny gauntlets must be. He grasps his tonfas, curls himself up, and hits both gauntlets with the points on his tonfas-right where the release mechanisms are.

It works. He falls. While in freefall, he spins, kicks, and slashes around his tonfas. He's in no mood to get picked up again by Nighthawk...or anyone on her team.

He lands on the mountainside. He slides to a stop on some soft volcanic soil.

He looks around. What surrounds him looks like a giant snake's tail. It's already half-decayed. He scared away some seabirds while landing.

It's Wizardkiller's shed tail. He knows it. He must've cut it off himself to impress the Vorm. Murakami's saved!

In a cave in the crater, Wizardkiller and Vorm slumber. He's spiraled all around her body like a giant shawl. To him, she's so sexy... Both seem minimally disturbed by what's going on down at the base.

Down near their tails and her legs, it's rather cold. And to think this is a volcanic crater...

A portal opens. Clea and Reyes scurry through it. She closes the portal. They're not sure how much time they have. They're not even sure how to transport the dragons away. They're just as confused as to where to banish them to-or whether separating them is necessary.

"They seem happy together," Clea admits.

"They always do," Reyes reminds her. "And the next thing you know, they're building an armed wall between Mexico and the United States."

Clea stares at him. "I thought Ellis was the American president in this time period!"

Reyes shakes his head. "It doesn't matter. We've got to get them out of here. And pronto."

"Hands off my gunship," Mordo surprises them, having teleported into the cave while their backs were turned, "if you please?"

Clea and Reyes put their hands up. Mordo's got his staff elongated, and his boots loaded.

"Master Mordo, please," Clea begs. "These dragons will destroy the world if you don't send them back. I know. I've come from an apocalyptic future when they have."

Nearby, hidden by the dragons' tails, there's a shallow pit...full of bastardized reptilian eggs covered in barbed reptilian scales. No one's seen them.

"Then the future is apocalyptic with or without sorcerers," Mordo insists. "Whatever the case, getting destroyed by dragon fire is easier; nature is less abused that way."

"This IS an abuse of nature, Mordo! Wizardkiller doesn't belong in this reality, and the Vorm doesn't belong on this planet. All sorcerers in this reality were born into it. And this reality NEVER produces what it shouldn't."

"Inspiring monologue," Mordo mutters. "You would've made Anne Frank proud."

Reyes stands between Clea and Mordo. He knows Mordo wants to kill her more.

Murakami knows he doesn't have much time. With what skill he knows, he brews what he can of the resurrection elixir, and drinks what he must to preserve himself.

And, he buries Wizardkiller's tail. He wants it to be safe when Reid's, Bakuto's, and Sowande's successor fingers of the Hand come for it next.

Leaper pounces on him again. He raises Murakami over his head, pushes him into the air, leaps, and kicks him off the mountain. Nighthawk catches him, and flies him away. Neither one suspects that Murakami's stronger than before.

Leader's put a mental force field around himself. Outside, Rulk his hammering away at it, with his fists and rage. He's strong, but he can't do this indefinitely. The plug-in in his chest will make sure of that.

Wing sighs, and waits for her qi energy to light up her fists. It does. With a glowing white fist, she punches the force field. Leader flinches and yells as the force field disappears.

Rulk leaps, lands on Leader, and starts beating the crap out of his huge head again. He roars while doing so.

Daredevil climbs the mountainside, towards the crater. In or out of his suit, he's a born wall-climber.

Behind him, Jones straggles. It's a tall slope. And she's hardly the lifelong climber Daredevil is. He keeps offering her the cable in his club, for him to tow her along with. Jones only grumbles, and flips him the bird. It's in such moments Daredevil's thankful he's blind.

Stealthily up the slope, Red Skull flies past both of them. Daredevil stops, when he feels his wind. He waits. But when Red Skull doesn't come back, he keeps climbing. By then, Jones has caught up. And, she falls behind again once he regains his confidence.

Red Skull dives into the crater. He finds the cave, and dives in. The dragons' snoozing snouts greet him. Their breaths cause his wraith robe to wave and fly around, like a black flag.

"Please stand down, Sr. Reyes," Mordo implores. "You know I'm just going to kill both of you."

"But if you kill me," Reyes insists, "and she gets away, you'll be no closer to your goal of eradicating Earth-199999 of its sorcerers. Plus, if you attack me, the Ghost Rider will protect me."

"Ah, except you're assuming I'm going to hit you with the staff. You forget," he spins his hands. Streaks of light come out of them. "I'm a sorcerer. And I know of a billion ways to get past a billion obstacles. Your Ghost Rider is merely a flickering candle, in contrast to the wildfire Dormammu would pose to most magi in my order."

Red Skull caresses the area between the Vorm's eyes, and hums a German lullaby. He spent quite some time with her on Vormir, and shares a very sentient bond with her.

She wakes. Red Skull vanishes. Her eyes roll. She hears the battle going on at the bottom of the mountain. She bumps Wizardkiller's head with hers. He wakes. He hears the noise too. In harmony, they both sigh.

Behind them, her legs and their tails move. Clea and Reyes both freeze. So does Mordo. It seems the leviathans have awoken.

Clea and Mordo make portals, and make their exits. Reyes becomes Ghost Rider, and phases through the cave walls, mere moments before the dragons almost discover him via their moving tails.

Both magi's portals open near the cave's opening. Clea and Mordo find themselves facing each other. Both are close enough to kill each other at point blank. Beneath them, the cave rumbles with the dragons' activity.

"You can kill me," Clea tells him, "or you can reclaim Wizardkiller. But with the Vorm to double both of those loads, you must really be a powerful sorcerer if you can do both."

The ground shakes as the cave spews a huge smoke stack of volcanic ash cloud. It spews out way too close to where Clea and Mordo stand.

The black cloud's generation can be beheld from the volcano's base. All fighting forces, Defenders and Illuminati, stop to behold the rising cloud. Beneath them, the ground shakes. Rocks trickle from the volcano's slope.

Far away, the NATO and Norwegian jeeps and dirt bikes stop to feel the magnitude of the quake the two dragons are causing. Some of the dirt bikes nearly fall over. Above, the hovercraft slow down and turn towards their ground forces, once they realize what's going on. Farther away, the SHIELD Quinjet keeps approaching, oblivious of the quake.

Quake, one of their own, has done worse... But not nearly as worse as Graviton has, of course...

Leader levitates himself, spreads his arms, and psionically attacks Wing and Rulk. Wing is crying. Rulk is raging, roaring, begging for it to stop. It seems that brains have overcome brawn.

Aloft, Leader opens his eyes. He smiles.

Rulk has a small mind-but a big heart. He overcomes Leader, leaps, grabs his legs, and drags him back down to Earth.

On the way down, Wing leaps. Her fists are shining white and bright like the dawn. Rulk's feet hit the ground. Wing's fist hits Leader's head.

The ground vibrates. Leader is shot far across the volcanic plain. He lands on his head, and skids to a stop. He plows a furrow in the soil as he goes along.

Lying on the ground, he gradually reverts to Sterns. He's unconscious.

Wing and Rulk stand on either side of Sterns, and watch him. He won't likely come to after a fall like that...but he might.

Time passes. The smoke still belches. Mordo gets impatient. In his hand, he conjures a dagger of pure energy, and raises it to run it through Clea's chest...

She's vanished. He's all alone, before the dragons' doorstep.

Twin sets of great red reptilian claws surface from the cave, and place themselves gently on the threshold. Mordo stands WAY too close to where her claws come down.

She lifts herself from the cave. Around her, Wizardkiller is still twirled.

His nostrils open. He inhales. He sniffs. He smells sorcerer flesh...

Mordo thinks of vanishing. Alas, Wizardkiller doesn't give him time. The Vorm leaps from the burrow, and lands on the crater slope. She crawls in circles around the crater's circumference.

In this spot, of course, Mordo feels small. Clea's not around to share his fate.

Leaper distracts Murakami. Murakami now has his tonfas heavier in hand, as his most recent consumption of resurrection elixir has made him more dangerous than before. Leaper hurts his own strikes on Murakami's tonfas many times. Both men bleed.

Murakami loses his temper, and charges Leaper. Leaper just stands, smiles, and waves.

Nighthawk swoops, broadsides Murakami, grabs him, and does what must be done with the fallen Hand leader. He does resurrect, after all.

Leaper smiles, and watches from the ground. Nighthawk flies in circles around him, getting higher and higher with each spiral. Murakami's not escaping. Doing so would mean a nasty fall.

At long last, Nighthawk won't dare fly higher. It is broad daylight, after all, and she's a night creature. Nonetheless, she's only at 5000 meters. At that zenith, she takes a breath, exhales, and drops Murakami.

And Murakami falls. He gapes and thrashes during his plummet. He releases his tonfas. They fall after him.

Down, down, down he goes. Below, the battle rages on. There's nothing he can do to save himself. He's falling too fast, his teammates are distracted, and he has no superpowers...or a parachute.

He hits the ground. The impact kills him instantly. Alas, his head is still attached to his body. He's dead now...but with a fresh batch of resurrection elixir in him, he will come back...and he'll be even more dangerous than before.

He lies there, eyes wide open. He's not moving-or breathing-anytime soon.

Leaper stands over his corpse. He seems exhausted. Nearby, Nighthawk lands, retracts her wings, and stands near him, over Murakami's corpse. She's panting...but she's far from exhausted. She could've gone many more rounds with him. Alas, the power supply of the Nighthawk wingpack isn't infinite.

A bird's gotta land sometime. And a Hand ninja's gotta die just as much.

The Vorm leaps from the crater sides, and lands before Mordo. Wizardkiller raises his head above hers, kneels down towards Mordo, and sniffs him. Parts of Mordo's robes try to go into his nose as he does. Their eyes meet.

Wizardkiller's eyes narrow. In him, his stomach growls.

Mordo's terrified. He can't think of the spell he needs to instantly calm the dragon...

Above, Daredevil finally tops the last ledge. He can't look down, because he's blind...but he can hear and smell what brews down there.

"I know you must be hungry," Mordo begins to implore Wizardkiller. "Agamotto knows you've been sexing one another for quite some time now. Congrats for breaking free of Leader's mind control, by the way. And as hard as this is for both of you, I'm sure...I really need him back."

Wizardkiller sneers, and bares his fangs. The Vorm tenaciously clings to one of Wizardkiller's coils.

Daredevil smiles. Near him, Jones finally catches up.

"What'd I miss," she asks.

"Nothing," Daredevil says, grinning. "You're just in time to see the epic climax in Shrek, when the dragon eats Lord Farquaad and belches out his crown."

"Always liked that movie," Jones admits. "I just never saw Cameron Diaz as the ogre type...or a redhead, for that matter."

Daredevil snickers, and smiles. "Foggy still agrees with Shrek, when he says Lord Farquaad's using his giant castle to compensate for something..."

Back at the base, Black Ant stands alone on a hill. Down there, Valkyrie and Bloody Mary both appear ready to charge him.

Black Ant's got his sights on Bloody Mary's pussy. He smiles, lowers his visor, shrinks, and leaps for it.

Valkyrie sees where he's going. In a flash, she slashes her Dragonfang steel, and precisely cuts off Black Ant's feet in mid-flight.

Black Ant screams in agony. It hurts. Nearby, Bloody Mary swipes both of her machetes, slicing off more bits of Black Ant's lower legs, until only his knees are left. Black Ant now has bloody stubs for legs.

He resizes himself to normal, and skids across the ground to a stop. He raises his visor, cries in agony, curses, and insults is amputators.

Bloody Mary takes her M4, stands with her upskirt right over Carson's face, raises her M4, and smashes him in the head with its butt, knocking him unconscious. He falls limp, and hence stops shouting, instantly.

Bloody Mary snorts and spits. "Welcome to Deathlok's world," she sneers, "pervert insect."

Back at the crater, the dragons have closed in on Mordo, and have got him in an ever-tightening spot. Daredevil and Jones merely smile, and watch from the top of the crater.

"Please," Mordo implores, with terror in his voice, "just back away some, and let me reprogram you to my will. My world is at stake, and I can't hope to save half of it without your lungs' destructive power."

Wizardkiller draws back his head. He inhales. Beneath him, so does the Vorm. Mordo panics, kneels, and desperately uses his staff to shield the impending executioner's ax...

Inside the dragons' mouths, their throats glow. They get brighter and brighter...

Nearby, Red Skull chants an old Schubert song. The dragons hear this, and listen. They turn their heads. The Vorm, at least, raises hers.

Red Skull floats inside a portal-most likely opened by Clea. He spreads his arms, and summons her towards him.

The Vorm looks as if she isn't sure. She looks up at her man-or sire, rather. He shrugs. Lying on the ground in what would've been his execution chamber, Mordo seems confused.

Red Skull keeps chanting. The Vorm purrs, and lumbers towards Red Skull. Wizardkiller clings tightly to her. He's going with her...back to Vormir.

Jones lies on the ledge, near Daredevil, with her bare arms propping up her head. "I do love a dragon tale with a happy ending," she says dreamily.

Daredevil turns his head towards her. "How do you know Jessica Jones, and what have you done to her?"

As a wraith, Red Skull is intangible. The Vorm marches right through him without getting stuck. She wanders right through the portal, dragging Wizardkiller and his coiled self to Vormir. As a couple, breeding or not, they'll do less damage to Vormir than they could to Earth.

Job done, Red Skull floats from the portal, and flies away. From behind it, Clea closes the portal.

Her eyes meet Mordo's. She's just banished Mordo's gunship to a planet that must be light years away from Earth.

Owl glides in loops and rolls over and around Knight and Hawkeye. He's having more fun than he's ever had. Here and there, he throws shuriken and slashes them with daggers. He's even foiled a few of the projectiles in Knight's prosthetic arm, and the trick arrows in Hawkeye's quiver.

Owl leaps from a monolith, and charges Knight. Knight smiles, aims her arm at Owl, and shines a bright beam of solar light from it.

It blinds Owl, of course. He can't see where he's gliding.

Hawkeye swings some bolas, and broadsides Owl with them. The balls and rope wrap themselves around Owl, binding him. He falls like a rock. He can't glide very far-or half as gracefully-when he's tied to weights.

Knight stands over him, and puts her foot on his chest. He begs for mercy. Knight scoffs, and uses her prosthetic arm to spray a chemical into his face. It knocks him out. He won't be gliding for a while. He's down for the count.

Just to be sure, Hawkeye stands over his body, and shoots a tranq arrow into him. As Jones and Murdock would both know, you've gotta have insurance with this guy.

His father was Kingpin's accountant, after all. For all the Defenders know or care, Owl's pants are overstocked with insurance bonds...

Mordo grunts, and stands. "I don't need a gunship to kill you," he growls. "I can kill all the sorcerers just as well manually. You'll be my next target...and Earth-199999's future will be brighter without you...Clea."

Clea seems too terrified to move. With his boots on, Mordo chambers his leap...

Moments before takeoff, Daredevil's cable deviously loops itself around both of Mordo's boots. Mordo leaps. Jones takes the club from Daredevil, and yanks it towards her. Mordo is grounded instantly, and dragged across many meters of hot rocky ground.

Jones punches him in the head, knocking him unconscious. Near him, his staff retracts itself to a club.

"Darn," Jones mutters. "I was really looking forward to watching the dragon eat him."

Daredevil grins. "Too bad he wasn't wearing a crown, huh?"

"Ah, he could've vomited those boots instead. I wonder if we should just rip them off his feet, and give them to Batroc?"

"Only if they choose him," Clea informs them. "Sorry; that's just how relics in the sorcerers' trade work."

Ghost Rider approaches them, levitating. "Anyone need a ride back down?"

At long last, all of the villains are defeated, and both of the dragons are banished. Murakami was the only casualty-albeit that won't likely last. Carson was wounded-but he deserved it. Knight and Clea would both know.

Owl got hit with several of Hawkeye's arrows, and much more of Knight's cybernetic ammo. And yet, he's sleeping like a babyface over there, as he's merely a rich pretty boy, with many bolas keeping him bound.

None of the Defenders were killed or greatly injured. Thompson's back at Dr. Palmer's place with that broken arm-but at least that one came from friendly fire. (Jones still says she did that to herself...) And Wong's fully recovered from Black Ant's strike against him-as has Daredevil from Owl's first strike.

At long last, Norway, NATO, and SHIELD finally show up. Norway and NATO, at least, are glad to see their services are not needed. Nonetheless, they secure the perimeter, and relieve the Defenders of duty. Their medical teams give some of the Defenders medical treatment.

They clean Carson's "leg stubs," and sterilize and bandage them. They start to bring a body bag for Murakami-but Wing intercepts them, shakes her head, and waves them away.

The SHIELD Quinjet lands. The real Deathlok, Slingshot, 13, Madani, Agent Piper, and Agent Davis dismount from it. Davis and Slingshot are both with SHIELD. They gladly take all five villains off the Defenders' hands-including Murakami's temporary corpse.

Deathlok and Knight meet. They spend an annoying amount of time comparing prosthetics. In a stretcher, Carson vomits while listening to them do so. He still hates Jon Garrett, and he does NOT want to join them as a cyborg...

All is well. Peace has been restored to Beerenberg and New York. And all the Defenders get to go home-albeit Batroc and Walker, who were wanted criminals before, have some paperwork to fill out with the US Department of Justice. And SHIELD offers to protect Maverick from Thunderbolt Ross, as they once did Bruce Banner.

And as he promised, Schmidt reappears to Brunnhilde, and surrenders to the Einherjar. He'll get a life sentence in the New Asgardian dungeons, with hope for parole...by Thor's leave, as soon as he and Rocket Raccoon finish their business with Thanos...if they finish their business with the Mad Titan...

Jones asks Clea if she's returning to the future, to see if it's any better now that dragons aren't going to destroy it. Clea smiles, and tells her that she's thinking about sticking around for a time, just to see if the Avengers get her teacher/boyfriend back...

Jones lumbers over to a boulder, behind which she cached the weapon the got from Barrett/Brock. She sighs. She was really hoping to sate her Guinevere fantasies this time. Alas, Clea and Red Skull lured the dragons away before she could bump them off herself.

"Next time, Captain Britain," she whispers. "Next time."

Carter sneaks up behind her, while wearing her boyfriend's favorite shirt, and slaps her on the back. "Next time, weird redhead from the future," she corrects Jones, "next time!"


	28. Epilogue

This is the Raft. Raft Davos hasn't budged from it. And word on the street-or the closest thing to it, considering that this is the ocean-is that the Raft's got five new inmates. Three are isolated in cryo-cells, due to their superpowers.

In the human ward, however, they're having a meal. A band's playing blues music. Carson stands on the stage, with his back to the crowd, swaying back and forth to the song's intro. On cue, he spins around, and starts singing "Jailhouse Rock" into the mike.

This is a good opportunity for him to try out his new prosthetics. Alas, they're not like Deathlok's or Misty Knight's; these are relatively ordinary, and meant to keep him from escaping the Raft during his stay here.

At one of the tables, Helmut Zemo is sitting near the stage. After he can't stop sitting and tapping his toe anymore, he jumps up on the table and dances-like Joe Walsh in the Blues Brothers.

Many others leap up on the tables and dance: Justin Hammer, Adrian Toomes, Sonny Burch, Jack Rollins, and Davos, to name a few. Davos happily follows Carson's lead-having no memories of his adventures with Mordo's Illuminati, for he wasn't the Davos who helped him take down Nightshade in that Chinese botanical garden.

Wilson Fisk, too, gets up on a table and dances. Some of the other inmates stop and watch, worrying that he'll break one of the tables while dancing atop it.

Murakami, now resurrected, sits for as long as he can. Both the resurrection and the elixir have hardened him more than ever-and not just sexually. Nonetheless, the human wing's influence is overwhelming. He eventually gets up on the table and dances too. He inadvertently shows off some of his ninja techniques while doing so. He accidentally injures some of his inmates-which will later prompt the government to add time to his sentence.

Deep below, Mordo, Sterns, and Owlsley are locked up in cryo-cells. They can barely move. But they can, at least, tap their toes to the music upstairs. So they do-even Mordo, who has the least cause to be happy right now.

Owlsley's arrow/cybernetic ammo wounds have just about healed. Alas, his grudge against Daredevil never will...

Speaking of whom, Murdock's gone back to his law practice. He's reunited with his law partner and BFF, Foggy Nelson. And Karen Page comes back to them, returning from her trip to Amsterdam/New Asgard with Frank Castle. No time to rest, though; Murdock and Page must help Nelson prepare for his magnificent wedding to the majestic blonde businesswoman, Marci Stahl.

Reyes goes back to Los Angeles-but not before going on a date with Johnson. But he doesn't stay long; he'd hate to upset Bishop, after all. SHIELD hears about his valor, and commends him for helping them capture Carson and recapture Sterns. For both parties, the war against secret foes continues.

Johnson goes back to practicing with her herbs. She returns the Nighthawk wings to Rand Enterprises, and offers to redeem herself for having borrowed it without permission. The folks at Rand Enterprises are impressed as to how well the wingpack has survived her fight with the Illuminati. Its developer even admitted he didn't expect the wingpack to get through armed action...

Bishop goes back to the Barton family. Her mentor's kids sure seem to enjoy it when she teaches them archery... Ronin, as her mentor now calls himself, is still busy helping the Avengers take down Thanos. With luck, he won't come back to his family-or his protege-on a slab...

Maverick has returned to a homeless life on the run. Only this time he's not alone; Johnson's with him, accommodating him with both herbal and non-herbal company along the way-wherever that leads, as long as Thunderbolt Ross isn't there.

Korg and Miek happily lock Schmidt up in the New Asgardian dungeons. The cell is perfectly wraith- and supersolider-proof. Korg naturally reminds Schmidt, best he can, that when and if Thor returns to the throne, he'll want to talk to Schmidt about commuting his sentence for having helped his girlfriend on Beerenberg. Schmidt moans, and his mind goes numb as everything Korg says both bores and confuses him.

Brunnhilde proudly returns to the throne, and awaits her boyfriend's triumphant return. As the time passes, she gradually starts to wonder if she made a mistake, rejecting Frank Castle's application to join the Einherjar...

Batroc and Walker have both hit the road. At some point, the duo just might run into Maverick and Johnson...

Wing and Knight, the Daughters of the Dragon, are back on the streets of Harlem and Chinatown. Whenever faced with an inhuman threat, or otherwise, Wing just summons her qi, Knight just arms her prosthetic, and the doubles match is on-but only in the instance when they attack two targets, rather than one or three or more... And, they patrol the Newark docks more often, too. Wong might not have been a villain, but his actions did invite a dangerous dragon from another reality and Black Ant dangerously close to a lot of companies' shipyard-boarded stock...

Jones shakes hands with Wong, AKA Beyonce, and apologizes to him for any trouble she might've caused him. Wong smiles, and apologizes that his own trouble was necessary.

Jones apologizes to Zola Thompson by driving her back to Buffalo, where she'll return to Canada. Her arm's still broken. At least there are fewer hard feelings than before. And thankfully, Jones was the source of most of them all along.

Thompson admits that she's learned a lesson or two ("or several," as she says) about committing crime for money. She just really wanted to ride a dragon, and mind-control it at the same time.

Jones tells her to not feel bad about those fantasies. She's had a few of them of her own-including a seemingly extreme one that prompted her to make a deal with Turk Barrett to get a weapon specifically designed for taking them down. Alas, Jones STILL doesn't know what it is or how it works. She hasn't even opened the case since Brock left it for her.

Thompson's been thinking about that Quebec speedster she kept avoiding back in Canada. She's thinking about asking him out when she gets back home...

At long last, Thompson crosses the border, and is back in her sweet home Canada. Although Jones doesn't understand what's particularly sweet about Canada. Mallow plants in the bogs, maybe, but... Didn't marshmallow mills stop using mallow plants to make marshmallows a long time ago?

After a long drive back to the Big Apple, Jones is back in her apartment. It now seems empty, with Wong, Murdock, and Johnson long gone. At least she'll get some peace and quiet now. She grabs a bottle of booze, and pours it into the Wild Turkey mug she got from Lieberman.

She's long forgotten the nano-cam eyes that the mug's "turkey head's" got loaded in it. These eyes deviously spin around and survey Jones's magnificent curves, every time Jones lowers her guard...

At least Lieberman's married. But for his family's sake, let's just hope his wife doesn't find out what's going on behind his closed doors.

Jones opens her closet door, looks inside, and sighs. The case with the futuristic dragon-slayer inside it is still there. Every now and then, she thinks about returning it to Barrett. But she just can't...

Someone knocks on her door. She closes the closet, and sets the Wild Turkey mug down on her desk.

She answers the door, expecting a client. It's Arocho.

She beams, and romantically embraces him. Athena knows they've missed each other.

They sit on a blanket, in the middle of Oscar's apartment floor, with the windows open. A nice breeze comes through them. Jessica tells him of everything she's been through since he left. Oscar's just glad she's alive.

Vidito, his son, is away on a trip. That should give Oscar and Jessica plenty of time to make up-assuming that they were broken up before...

Jones admits, under Jim Beam's influence, that she's thinking about forgiving Trish for killing her mother. But she warns Oscar not to get his hopes up.

They lie down on the blanket, and cuddle. Outside, the breeze blows a natural lullaby that tempts them both off to sleep.

Back at the Scene Contempo Gallery, the statue of Athena still stands. All around the gallery, the janitors are still cleaning up after Jones's and Owlsley's mess.

Jones didn't get to fight Athena this time. But one day, when Midgard and Olympus ever manage to find a connection, Athena just might trespass Jones, or vice versa, and when and if that ever happens, the catfight-or owlfight, rather-that ensues just MIGHT be epic...


End file.
